


Appa's Found Days

by hufflepuffelizabeth



Series: Appa's Found Days [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Gen, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Zuko Joins The Gaang Early (Avatar), Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-20
Updated: 2021-01-17
Packaged: 2021-03-08 01:48:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 9
Words: 43,514
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26567572
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hufflepuffelizabeth/pseuds/hufflepuffelizabeth
Summary: “What do you plan to do now that you have found the Avatar’s bison? Keep him locked in our new apartment? Should I go put on a pot of tea for him?”-Uncle Iroh, Lake Laogai, Season 2 Episode 17Zuko unfolded a small, fuzzy green blanket and tossed it over Appa’s head like a hood. “And this is Appa’s favorite blanket, it’s too small for him, obviously, but he really seems to like it and-”Appa licked Zuko, knocking off his hat and leaving him dripping. Zuko quickly grabbed his hat and slammed it back on his head but the damage was done - the Avatar had recognized him.“I can’t believe it,” Aang breathed, staring at Zuko wide-eyed.Zuko stared back, trying to decide if he could make the jump out the window. The drop would be pretty steep, but he really didn’t want to fight off the Avatar in their new apartment with its nice furniture and Uncle’s tea collection in the corner and-“Appa found me a firebending teacher!”
Relationships: Aang & Zuko (Avatar), Appa & Zuko (Avatar), Jet & Zuko (Avatar), The Gaang & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Appa's Found Days [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1932331
Comments: 494
Kudos: 2128





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Takes place during the back half of season two. Zuko and Iroh arrive at Ba Sing Se a while before the Gaang, Appa also gets to Ba Sing Se early, and the Dai Li don’t exist.

_“What do you plan to do now that you have found the Avatar’s bison? Keep him locked in our new apartment? Should I go put on a pot of tea for him?”  
-Uncle Iroh, Lake Laogai, Season 2 Episode 17_

Zuko found the Avatar’s sky bison huddled in a damp alleyway, legs chained together, fur dirty and matted, and an utterly defeated, despondent look on his face. The massive creature was half-heartedly tracking Zuko’s movements from eyes that were still mostly closed.

Zuko’s first thought was that the Avatar and his companions must be nearby. The boy never seemed to go anywhere without his giant pet. He spun around the alley, gazing into the dark corners, but no one was there. Of course not. The creature must have gotten separated from them because there was no way the Avatar would have allowed his bison to get into such a condition.

His second thought was that he should just walk away. He and his uncle had a good thing going here in Ba Sing Se. Their new apartment was much bigger than the one they had first been assigned; still nowhere near as huge as his personal chambers at the palace had been before he had been banished, but much larger than the room on his ship where he had lived for three years. His uncle was so excited about the opening of his tea shop. He had finally settled on naming the shop the Jasmine Dragon and had sent Zuko down to the Lower Ring to get tea leaves from a specific vendor that only opened when the moon was high in the sky. If Zuko hung around the bison, the Avatar would eventually show up and he and his uncle would get dragged back into the wild goose-monkey chase that had been their life for over three years. He didn’t care who was on the Fire Nation’s throne - Ozai, Azula, the Avatar himself. Zuko had had more luck during his short time as refugee Lee in Ba Sing Se than he had had in his entire life as Prince Zuko. He just wanted to help his uncle run his tea shop, maybe turn the fountain outside the shop into a turtle duck pond, and stay far away from the war.

Zuko’s third thought was that he couldn’t leave the pathetic looking creature starving in a dirty alleyway. The bison had apparently decided Zuko wasn’t worth the effort of keeping his eyes open, so had let them fall shut heavily, as though he had barely been able to keep them open in the first place. Zuko could see built-up crust stuck to the fur around the creature’s eyes, nearly gluing them shut.

He would clean up the poor animal, Zuko decided. Give him a bath and some food and get those chains off his feet. Then the bison would fly off to go find the Avatar and Zuko could go back to tea shop preparations. It was a great plan, and Zuko couldn’t help but feel like his uncle would be proud of him for coming up with it. He felt a bit hot and he wiped his sleeve across his forehead to mop up the beads of sweat that had appeared, even though there was a pleasant breeze and he had put on an extra robe before he left to protect against the cold night air.

“Alright, buddy,” Zuko said to the sky bison. “I’m going to get those chains off you and then I’ll take you somewhere you can have a nice bath.”

The bison didn’t react. Zuko hesitantly inched his way towards the chains cuffing the bison’s feet. It wasn’t difficult to get them undone, but it did take time. When he finally undid the cuff on the sky bison’s last foot, he half-expected him to fly off right away, but he didn’t even react. Zuko pushed on the bison, trying to convince him to stand, but the six-legged animal stubbornly stayed put. Zuko groaned in frustration.

“Fine. Food first, then you have to come with me.”

The bison blearily blinked at Zuko. Zuko returned to the dark street, searching for food for the huge animal. It was dark, but Zuko managed to find a vendor’s cart piled high with cabbages. He rolled the cart over to the giant bison and dumped the cabbages in a pile in front of him. The bison perked up and began to slurp up the cabbages, looking happier than Zuko had seen him so far. Zuko wheeled the now-empty cabbage cart back to its spot and left several coins for the merchant. Hopefully he wouldn’t be too upset the cabbages were all gone.

When Zuko returned, the bison was bright-eyed and standing. His massive tongue licked Zuko, covering him from head to toe with bison spit.

“That’s disgusting,” Zuko told the bison, “but you’re welcome.”

The sky bison trundled after Zuko through the dark streets of Ba Sing Se. The bison was so tall that he sent the signs above storefronts swinging and he sampled a few more food carts on their way back to the Upper Ring. Zuko had to herd him away from a moldy, rotting pile of hay. Finally, they reached the Jasmine Dragon, a cheery “opening soon!” sign hung across the front. The bison hopped into the fountain in front of the Jasmine Dragon so eagerly that the displaced water splashed up and soaked Zuko from head to toe.

Zuko stood dripping for several moments. His hair had gotten longer during his time in Ba Sing Se and it now hung in front of his eyes, plastered to his forehead. Zuko pushed his hair away from his good eye, shook his hands free of the water dripping off them, then started on the long task of pulling twigs out of the bison’s fur. He coughed hoarsely into his elbow several times - the cold water and the chilly night air must’ve been making him sick.

Zuko scrubbed the bison for the better part of an hour before he began to return to a normal color. The fountain was full of dirty water, but Zuko could already see worm frogs swimming around and eating the dirt. In a few hours, it would look good as new, and the worm frogs would move on to other sources of murky water in the city. The bison still had some mats that Zuko hadn’t been able to get out with his fingers, and he was pretty sure there was slime stuck between his toes, and he’d gotten all the crust he could off the bison’s eyes but he knew the bison would need some medicine before he was good as new. But he looked way better than he had when Zuko had found him in the alleyway. The bison was in good enough shape that he should be able to find the Avatar and his companions.

“Alright, buddy,” Zuko told the bison, who had leaped out of the water and was leaving a soggy puddle in front of the Jasmine Dragon’s doors. Clouds had swept in with the brisk midnight wind, dimming the light from the moon and leaving the courtyard cast in shadows. “It’s time for you to get going. The Avatar will finish getting you fixed up.”

The bison tipped over onto his side, drying himself on the green and yellow dragon rug Zuko and his uncle had set in front of the doors the day before. The rug bunched up and when the bison stood back up, there was white fur stuck all over it. Zuko slammed a hand to his face. It would take hours to pull out all the bison hair.

“You need to find the Avatar,” Zuko told the bison again. He did his best to recreate the airbending moves he had seen the Avatar do while fighting against him, hoping the bison would understand what he was trying to say. “The A-va-tar. Go on. What is it he says - yap yap?”

Zuko coughed into his arm again. He was definitely coming down with something.

“Is it too dark?” Zuko asked the bison. He carefully scanned the surrounding area - no one was awake at this hour and he hadn’t seen anyone following them from the Lower Ring. “I can light a few torches for you, just so you know how to take off. But then you have to go.”

Zuko glanced around again, then created a small flame in the palm of his hand. Immediately, the bison roared, pushing back against the doors of the tea shop and tearing down the “opening soon!” sign with a flap of his tail. Zuko quickly extinguished his flame and showed the bison his hands were empty.

“It’s okay, it’s okay,” Zuko hushed the bison. “Look, the fire’s gone. I didn’t mean to scare you, buddy.”

The sky bison hesitantly settled back down, staring suspiciously at Zuko’s hands. After a moment, he licked Zuko again.

“I was scared of fire, for a while,” Zuko confided in the creature. “After my father...after I got this scar...after...anyway, it took me a while before I could see someone bend fire without flinching. So I, um, I understand what you’re going through. And I guess if you need a place to stay tonight…”

The sky bison looked so happy at Zuko’s offer that he changed his original plan of finding an empty panda horse stall and instead let the creature follow him back to his apartment.

The bison wouldn’t fit through the door, but they had a rather big window, so Zuko went up by himself to open it as wide as it would go and then gestured for the creature to fly through. It was a tight squeeze, but with several wiggles from the bison and a few pushes and pulls from Zuko, he got inside.

The bison froze when he saw the candle Zuko’s uncle had kept lit for his arrival. Zuko quickly extinguished it. Without the light, the sky bison bumped over their table and knocked into several pans. Zuko could hear his uncle keep snoring through it all.

“You can stay tonight,” Zuko told the bison, voice so hoarse it came out in a whisper. “But then you’ve got to go.”

The sky bison settled down in the middle of the room and was asleep within moments. Zuko coughed into his elbow again. He felt so dizzy he nearly fell over. He should go lie down, he thought to himself, but he wasn’t sure if he could make it to his bed. Maybe he could just sit down next to the bison for a few moments until he got his strength back. He wouldn’t fall asleep. He’d just rest for a moment. Zuko settled in next to the bison, who was surprisingly comfortable to lay on. He blinked heavily, then was asleep before he could open his eyes again.

* * *

The next few days were a blur of feverish dreams and flashes of one-sided conversations from his uncle. Zuko vaguely remembered his uncle telling him he was going through a spiritual sickness, which would explain the dragons in his dream pulling him in opposite directions. Zuko didn’t remember what they said to him, but he did remember the sky bison (Appa, whispered a voice in his dream) sweeping between the dragons, swooping him off the Fire Lord throne, and flying him to the Jasmine Dragon. Then Zuko was wearing a green and yellow outfit to match the shop, and the Avatar and his companions were there, and Zuko was bringing them tea and showing the Avatar how to heat it up with his hands, and his uncle was smiling, and when Zuko looked out at the fountain, baby turtle ducks were swimming, and Zuko was happier than he could ever remember being. A Fire Nation messenger hawk arrived with a letter from Zuko’s father, and he nearly didn’t open it, but his hands moved without his mind’s permission, and his father’s polished script wrote of the deaths of Azula, Mai, and Ty Lee, and said Zuko was never to return because Fire Lord Ozai would no longer need an heir because he had found a way to live forever, with the whole world under his control. Zuko dropped the letter like it had burned him, and when he looked down at his hands, they were red and disfigured, scarred to match his face, and Zuko tore his eyes away from his hands to run up to every person he could see, warning them that the Fire Lord was coming. Every time, he was met with blank stares and the same words - ‘there is no war in Ba Sing Se’ - and then the biggest Fire Nation tank he had ever seen crashed through the Jasmine Dragon, and Zuko was stumbling through the burning building, not caring about the flames licking at him, calling for his uncle, for Appa, for the Avatar, for anyone, but they were all gone, and he heard a vicious laugh from above the tank, and when he looked up, his father, Fire Lord Ozai, was staring down at Zuko with dark, triumphant eyes, as though to say he always knew Zuko would be a failure and-

Zuko shot up in bed, suddenly awake. He was drenched in sweat. He saw his uncle through the doorway making tea. The sky bison - Appa - was curled next to Zuko, fast asleep. Zuko breathed a ragged sigh of relief and collapsed back down against Appa. Within moments, he was asleep again.

When Zuko’s fever finally broke, his first words were, “I need to find the Avatar.”

His uncle, who was sitting next to him, looked alarmed.

“It seems your sickness has not quite run its course,” Zuko’s uncle muttered. “Perhaps a nice cup of jasmine tea…”

“It’s my destiny,” Zuko continued. “It’s always been tied up in the Avatar. For so long, I thought I was meant to find him and bring him to my father, but I know now - my destiny is to help him restore balance to the world. I just need to get his bison back to him so he can fulfill his own destiny of defeating the Fire Lord. And the sooner I get his bison back to him, the sooner I can get my destiny over with and focus on the tea shop.”

Iroh blinked at Zuko.

“And Appa misses him,” Zuko admitted.


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for all the comments and kudos!!! I'm amazed at how much everyone has loved this story so far. Enjoy another chapter of Zuko & Appa's Ba Sing Se adventures with friends!

_“Life happens wherever you are, whether you make it or not.”  
-Uncle Iroh, City of Walls and Secrets, Season 2 Episode 14_

Zuko spent all his waking hours getting ready for the opening of the Jasmine Dragon and attempting to track down the Avatar. He hadn’t been able to find medicine for Appa’s eyes yet, but the bison reluctantly let Zuko wash them with a soft cloth each morning. On trips around Ba Sing Se to pick up supplies for the tea shop, Zuko asked everyone he passed if they had seen anyone searching for a sky bison. When he had flyers made for the Jasmine Dragon’s grand opening, he also had posters made up for Appa, with a half-decent drawing of the sky bison that had taken Zuko an entire afternoon and a dozen sheets of paper to get right. They read: “Found - Sky Bison. Ask for Lee at the Jasmine Dragon.” He had to get special permission to put up the posters, and he didn't hear back for days, but his uncle sent him to the Signage Approval Office with a full pot of steaming tea. By the next afternoon, Zuko was allowed to put up the posters all over Ba Sing Se. On every errand, Appa hung close to Zuko, unwilling to let him out of his sight.

The day after Zuko had gotten permission to put up the posters, Jin found him plastering them all over the Lower Ring.

“Your bison is so sweet, Lee!” Jin said, petting Appa’s chin as the bison made appreciative sounds and tilted his head up so she had better petting access. Jin found a mat and started pulling it apart with her fingers. “Is he from the circus?”

Zuko stared at Jin blankly.

“You know, the circus you traveled with before coming to Ba Sing Se?” Jin hinted.

“Oh! Right. No, he’s lost. I found him in an alleyway a few days ago.” Zuko showed Jin the posters he was putting up and she giggled over his sky bison drawing. Zuko flushed red, embarrassed even though he knew Jin didn’t really mind what his Appa drawing looked like. He hung up another poster.

“Well, if you’re looking for advice about how to take care of him, there’s a zoo in the Middle Ring. I bet the zookeeper has some medicine for his eyes and maybe a brush for his mats. We can go together!”

Jin grabbed Zuko’s hand and waved for Appa to follow. She led them through a maze of streets, checking behind them every few steps to make sure Appa hadn’t gotten lost. The uneven cobbled streets of the Lower Ring gave way to the more refined Middle Ring. They reached the zoo, which was hidden behind several larger buildings. He paid for three tickets by setting the coins in a tin at the entrance and he, Jin, and Appa entered the zoo.

“I haven’t been here in years,” said Jin, “but I think it was a lot busier last time.”

A statue of a badgermole holding a sign welcoming guests to the zoo fell off its pedestal and crashed to the ground.

“And less broken.”

“Welcome to the Ba Sing Se Zoo!” called a man sweeping a rabaroo pen. The rabaroo was sitting next to the man. Every few sweeps, the man patted the rabaroo on the head and gave her a treat from his apron. He finished sweeping, gave the rabaroo several more treats, then let himself out of the enclosure. “My name is Kenji and I’m the keeper of this here zoo! Is that a sky bison with you?” The zookeeper immediately moved to check Appa’s eyes and teeth, muttering to himself as he took in the crusty state of Appa’s eyes and the mats Zuko hadn’t been able to get out.

“Lee found him on the streets a few days ago,” Jin explained. “He’s trying to find his person but we were hoping you could give him some advice about how to take care of him in the meantime.”

“Of course!” Kenji readily agreed. “I’ll get you set up with a brush and some eye ointment. He should be good as new in a few days!”

Kenji led them through the zoo, tossing treats to the animals as they walked by. They didn’t run into any other guests and the rest of the zoo was in as bad of shape as the badgermole statue at the entrance.

“It’s a terrible cycle,” Kenji said when Jin asked. “No one comes because the zoo is run down, but it’s run down because I can’t afford to fix it without anyone coming. I’ve been trying to save up for a big plot of land so the animals can have more room, but all my money’s been going towards doing repairs and keeping them fed. I’d take them out of the city and let them loose except they have no idea how to survive in the wild and they’re all here because something happened to them already.”

Zuko looked at a pair of ostrich horses coming to grab treats from Kenji. One was missing half a wing and the other had burn scars snaking up a leg. Zuko felt a pang of guilt as he remembered the ostrich horse he’d stolen from Song. His uncle’s pai sho friends had promised to take good care of the ostrich horse, but he still felt ashamed of what he had done. He hoped the ostrich horse was happy in the desert town.

“I can help with repairs while you find ways to entertain the animals,” Zuko offered. He held out a hand for the burned ostrich horse to sniff and then scratched the animal behind the ears where Song’s ostrich horse had liked to be petted. “Appa can hang out at the zoo and meet people while I’m helping out. And I can put up posters for the zoo while I’m putting up found posters.”

“And my grandma could knit sweaters and scarves out of sky bison fur since it’s so soft and he sheds so much!” Jin suggested. “We could have a sky bison fundraiser to get the land for your new zoo!”

The eager zookeeper gave Zuko a foot-long list of repairs and pointed him to a rickety tool chest in the zoo shed. Kenji furnished hay for Appa to eat, a dusty sky bison comb he said had been given to the zoo by an air nomad a hundred and twenty years ago, and a large tube of eye ointment with instructions to put it on Appa’s eyes twice a day. Jin helpfully started brushing Appa while Zuko stared at the tool chest and tried to figure out what he would need for the first repair on the long list. He’d done chores and manual labor for several families while crossing the Earth Kingdom, but he was nowhere near an expert.

“That was so much fun!” Jin smiled up at Zuko several hours later. She was covered in white fluff and Zuko was holding Appa’s ointment, comb, and three bags full of brushed-off fur for Jin’s grandma to knit.

“Do you want to visit Uncle’s new tea shop?” Zuko asked. “It’s not open yet, but you can come see it if you want. And get some tea.”

“I’d love to!”

They got several funny looks on their way to the Upper Ring, Jin covered in fur and Zuko’s hair brown with dirt and plastered to his forehead with sweat and a massive sky bison trotting at their heels, but for once, Zuko felt like people were staring at the absurdity of the view and not at his scar.

When they arrived at the Jasmine Dragon, Iroh already had tea brewing.

“I thought I had imagined how good your tea was, Uncle, but it’s even better than I remembered!” Jin complimented Iroh, who blushed.

“Flattery will get you everywhere! The Jasmine Dragon could use servers who understand the importance of a quality cup of tea. Would you like a job as co-head server?” Iroh offered.

“I’d love that! Have you thought about making Appa a greeter? He would be so adorable in a Jasmine Dragon outfit!”

* * *

On another trip to the Lower Ring, Zuko ran into Jet, Smellerbee, and Longshot. Jet and Zuko had left things on a tenuous note when they had last seen each other. Jet had accused Zuko and Iroh of being firebenders, which no one else in the tea shop had seemed to believe. They had fought, Jet with his hook swords and Zuko with a pair he’d taken from a guard, until they were both so exhausted they had agreed to a truce for a quick breather, tucked out of view in an empty alleyway.

“Do you seriously think I’m still with the Fire Nation?” Zuko had panted, pointing at his scar. “The Fire Lord himself gave me this scar in a fire duel when I was thirteen.”

“So you admit it,” Jet had said, his hands on his knees as he breathed heavily. “You’re a firebender.”

“I’m in Ba Sing Se to get _away_ from the Fire Nation. I’ve just been serving tea for three weeks-” 

“I know. I’ve been watching you.”

“So you know we don’t want to cause any trouble.”

Before Jet had responded, a group of muggers had backed a pair of homeless-looking kids into the alleyway. Without a word, Zuko and Jet had picked up their swords and fought off the muggers.

“You should learn how to defend yourselves,” Zuko had told the kids, who had stared at Zuko and Jet with wide eyes and massive grins.

“I’ll teach them,” Jet had decided. “You got anybody looking out for you?”

The kids had shaken their heads in unison.

“How would you like to join my Freedom Fighters? It’s never too early to learn how to fight.”

Both kids had nodded eagerly.

After that, they had parted ways, Jet threatening to track Zuko down if he stepped a toe out of line before he whisked the kids off with him.

When Zuko ran into Jet and his group again, Appa in tow, the first thing Jet said was, “That’s the Avatar’s bison.”

Zuko opened his mouth to tell Jet he knew that, obviously, but then realized Jet still thought his name was Lee. “The Avatar’s bison?” Zuko said instead. “I found him chained up and lost about a week ago. Do you think the Avatar will see these posters and come get him?”

Jet looked at the poster Zuko was plastering to the wall. “That’s a terrible drawing. But there aren’t too many other flying bison around, so it’ll do. His name is Appa, by the way.”

“So you, um. You know the Avatar?” Zuko asked, trying to come across as casual but knowing he was most likely failing horribly. Maybe they would just pass it off as him being excited about knowing someone who knew the legendary figure.

“I met him and his friends months ago. We didn’t exactly see eye to eye. I was a different person back then.”

Jet didn’t elaborate any further and Zuko decided he didn’t care enough to ask. It was a strange feeling, to not desperately be searching for any scrap of information about the Avatar he could get.

Zuko tried to ditch the Freedom Fighters, but Smellerbee and Longshot hopped on Appa and Jet stuck like glue to Zuko’s side until he finally went back to the Jasmine Dragon, the trio in tow.

“It is so good to see you all again!” Iroh said when he saw the group, tactfully not mentioning Jet’s fight with Zuko. “We are still getting the Jasmine Dragon ready for our grand opening tomorrow, but you must come in and try some of our teas! How has the city been treating you?”

Iroh ushered them inside, letting the small group complain about the Lower Ring while he prepared the tea. Zuko wasn’t sure if the others wanted him to stand at the counter with them or not, so he awkwardly hovered by the entrance, petting Appa so he had something to do while they talked.

“Come on, ash maker,” Smellerbee called Zuko over. “Come judge the city with the rest of us. Everyone wants to pretend like the war doesn’t matter to them since they’re in the city now, but more refugees are showing up every day and Jet keeps finding war orphans and bringing them home. Is the plan to just keep squeezing everyone in until the entire Earth Kingdom population lives behind the walls?”

After they finished their tea, Iroh recruited them all to go pick up chairs he had ordered from a merchant in the Lower Ring. He sent them with money for lunch, so they stopped by the Middle Ring restaurant Zuko had visited with Jin and then tried to figure out the logistics of transporting dozens of chairs all the way from the Lower Ring to the Upper Ring.

“You literally have a sky bison,” Smellerbee told Zuko. “Can’t he just carry them back?”

“He already barely fits through the streets,” Zuko defended Appa. “There’s no way he’ll be able to walk with all those chairs piled on. And what if they’re too heavy for him?”

“He’s the size of a wagon-”

“He’s mostly fluff!”

“-and he flies, so what does it matter if he can walk through the streets? Why are we even walking at all when we could be flying?”

“I know he’s _supposed_ to fly,” explained Zuko. “But I have no idea how to get him to do it on command. So we just walk.”

Longshot nodded towards a cart of cabbages.

“Longshot’s right, Lee,” Jet said. “You just aren’t being smart about this.”

An hour later, they had precariously stacked the chairs on Appa’s back, held down with a bit of rope and a lot of hope. Above Appa’s head, Zuko was holding a long stick with a rope tied on and several cabbages strung on it like bait on a fishing pole. Appa was trying to stretch out his tongue to get the cabbages but couldn’t quite make it. Zuko lowered the stick so Appa could grab a cabbage off the end.

“You’re supposed to hold it higher,” Jet told him from his spot on top of the chairs. Zuko was a bit worried the Freedom Fighters would fall down when they took off, since they had all perched on top of the huge pile, but they were convinced it wouldn’t be a problem.

“This feels kind of mean,” Zuko protested. He let Appa have another cabbage.

Jet leapt down from the stack of chairs to stand next to Zuko on Appa’s head. He wrestled the stick from Zuko’s grasp before Zuko could let Appa have another, held the cabbages up out of Appa’s reach, and somehow didn’t lose his balance when Appa took off from the ground. Zuko frantically grasped at Appa’s fur so he didn’t fall off and desperately hoped the chairs wouldn’t go crashing down on someone’s house.

They got lost six times and nearly had to make an emergency landing twice when the chairs started tipping. A chair fell off the pile over the Middle Ring and Longshot dove to grab it by a leg and almost fell off completely. When they finally made it back to the Jasmine Dragon, it was dark and most of the businesses had closed. Zuko let them into the Jasmine Dragon so they could drag all the chairs inside and make sure everything was perfect for the grand opening.

“Uncle probably has dinner ready,” Zuko said when they were done. “There’s not a ton of room in our apartment when Appa’s in there since he’s, you know, super big, but if you don’t mind being a bit cramped, you can come eat and take home leftovers. My uncle always makes too much. I mean, you don’t have to, though. It’s up to you. Um-”

“We’ll come,” Jet said, thankfully stopping Zuko from rambling on any further. “An enemy of the Fire Nation is a friend of mine, even if you are an ash maker.”

Appa, who had been waiting by the fountain outside the Jasmine Dragon while Zuko locked up the shop, licked Jet, Smellerbee, and Longshot before they could jump out of the way.


	3. Chapter 3

_“Perfection and power are overrated. I think you are very wise to choose happiness and love.”  
-Uncle Iroh, The Crossroads of Destiny_

Appa had been missing for seven hours. Zuko was trying not to panic, but it was getting more and more difficult the more time passed without Appa showing up.

“He probably just went home,” Smellerbee said, stifling a yawn. She and Longshot had shown up to help out at the Jasmine Dragon five hours earlier and Zuko had press-ganged them into tracking down Appa with him. “Aang had a bison whistle when we met him. He could’ve finally called Appa home. And speaking of home - we need to get going. If he hasn’t shown up by the morning we’ll help you again tomorrow.”

* * *

“Perhaps he simply went for a fly?” Iroh suggested while putting away the day’s teapots. “Even sky bison need to stretch their legs occasionally.”

“He wouldn’t leave without saying goodbye,” Zuko insisted. He picked up the bucket of dirty dishwater, opened the back door into the alleyway behind the shop, looked both ways to see if Appa was there, then dejectedly dumped out the bucket. He set it upside down by the door to dry and turned back to his uncle. “What if something really bad happened?”

* * *

“I’m sure he’s okay,” Jin told Zuko as he walked her home after they locked up the Jasmine Dragon for the night. Zuko kept looking around corners and into alleyways to see if Appa was hiding anywhere. “Maybe he’ll be in your apartment when you get home. Or he found another friend in the city and is spending some time with them. Our neighbor’s mostly-friendly domesticated pygmy puma comes around for dinner at our apartment every night and sleeps on my grandma’s lap for hours.”

* * *

“No one could kidnap Appa without someone noticing,” Jet told Zuko. He hooked the ends of his swords on one leg each of the two trafficking triad gangsters he was fighting. Both fell to the ground, whacking their heads on the side of the roof and falling unconscious.

Zuko used his dual dao to knock the sword out of his main opponent’s hand, then spun and swiped out his leg so all three of the remaining gangsters fell off the roof and landed in an overflowing dumpster. Zuko peered down into the alleyway to check if Appa was napping in the shadows. “Maybe they were sneaky?” Zuko despaired. “Appa is so trusting. If some bison-murderer offered him cabbages he’d probably follow them into a dark alleyway and get shanked.”

Four more triad members appeared on the roof and charged at Jet and Zuko. Wordlessly, the pair picked up a thick rope on the ground and held it taught between them. The charging quartet tripped on the rope and went tumbling into the dumpster, falling on top of the trio already there.

“Appa’s a vicious fluffball when the situation calls for it,” Jet said. One of the gangsters had lost a helmet. Jet kicked it off the edge of the roof. “If he had opposable thumbs, he’d be the one doing the shanking. Stop worrying so much and help me tie up these blockheads for the useless guards.” 

* * *

Zuko absolutely did not stop worrying. The streets were empty and the stars were out, but he refused to go to bed until he found Appa. What if the bison had gotten lost? Ba Sing Se was a big city and it could be confusing to navigate. What if Appa had tried to fit somewhere he was too big for and was stuck and scared and waiting for Zuko to come find him? What if- “Appa!”

Zuko ran towards the giant bison as he landed in the courtyard outside the Jasmine Dragon and hugged him tightly.

“You can’t do that to me, buddy. I’ve been looking for you all day. Where have you been?”

“I’m afraid that’s my fault.”

A wiry man in green, gold-embroidered pajamas slid off Appa’s back. A bear in matching pajamas slid down as well and bounded over to Appa’s head. Appa and the bear started playing chase around the courtyard. Zuko looked back at the wiry man, trying to figure out where he had seen him before, and abruptly recognized him from portraits around the Earth Kingdom.

“King Kuei!” Zuko exclaimed, his voice cracking in surprise. He bowed to him, arranging his hands in the traditional Fire Nation flame. Halfway into the bow, he realized that was a terrible way to keep up his cover and tucked his hands to his sides.

“A Fire Nation bow!” King Kuei clapped his hands together, delighted. “I’ve never seen a Fire Nation bow, apart from illustrations in my books! I discovered this sweet sky bison playing with my bear, Bosco, earlier today. Poor Bosco gets so lonely sometimes. I just had to come meet the sky bison’s family! I’ll admit, I expected to find Air Nomads, based on what I’ve read, but someone from the Fire Nation with a sky bison is fascinating!”

“Oh, um.” Why did the Earth King expect to find airbenders? Did he not know they had all been killed a century earlier? “Appa is actually the Avatar’s sky bison. He got lost so I’m just watching Appa until the Avatar shows up to get him.”

“The Avatar! Very interesting!” King Kuei beamed.

Appa and Bosco curled up together in the middle of the courtyard and for a moment, Kuei and Zuko wore identical sappy expressions at the sky bison and bear.

“Uh,” Zuko began, desperately wracking his brain for proper manners for a peasant to a king. He could barely remember how he was supposed to act even as a prince to a king. “Your Majesty, would you and Bosco like to come have a cup of tea? My uncle is the best tea maker in the city.” And the Dragon of the West who laid siege to the Earth King’s city for 600 days, Zuko belatedly recalled, and hoped the king would turn him down - but Zuko had never had luck on his side.

“We’d love to!”

* * *

“Uncle!” Zuko called, unlocking the apartment door. Appa had already squeezed into the apartment from the window, the wall around which had broken several days earlier, making it easier for the bison to get inside but letting drafts in through the hole anytime Appa wasn’t blocking the wall.

Zuko grimaced at the mess in the apartment. Zuko had worked the early morning shift the day before and had helped out at the zoo over lunch. Jet had found Zuko and Appa dropping off bags of brushed off bison fur for Jin’s grandma to knit into scarves. Jet had had two small kids in tow and a sleeping toddler in his arms, the oldest kid sporting a split lip and a black eye. Jet had carefully transferred the toddler to Zuko’s arms while ignoring Zuko’s panicked expression and had sent the other two kids scurrying up to ride on Appa. He had promised Zuko he’d be back for them soon, but ‘soon’ had apparently meant the following morning. Zuko had done his best to entertain the kids for the rest of the day and get them to sleep without crying that night. By the time his uncle had gotten home in the evening, the apartment had been a disaster, but all three kids had been fast asleep on Appa. Jet had picked up the kids in the morning, having tracked down their aunts, and Appa and Zuko had gone with Jet to drop them off at their aunts’ house instead of picking up the apartment. After that, Zuko had gone straight to his shift at the tea shop and had discovered Appa missing when he came out to check on him during his break.

“I’m so sorry about the mess, Your Majesty,” Zuko called over his shoulder, rushing around the apartment and stashing everything as quickly as he could. He gathered up the blankets they had used to make a fort and dumped them behind the couch, out of sight. His Blue Spirit mask was sitting on the couch arm, where he’d set it after attempting to act out a bedtime story for the kids, along with several well-worn theatre scrolls Jin had found at the Lower Ring market and a playbill printed on cheap paper. Zuko had thought the Ember Island Players’ rendition of Love Amongst the Dragons had been the worst possible version of the play, but the Earth Kingdom parody Love Amongst the Badgermoles had easily taken its spot. Zuko, Jin, and Longshot had gone to see it performed at an amphitheater in the Middle Ring and even though they sat on top of Appa at the very back of the theater, the actors little more than specks on the stage, Zuko knew he never wanted to see it again. Zuko scooped up the mask and the theatre scrolls and the playbill and shoved them under the couch.

Thankfully, King Kuei was too distracted trying to figure out how Appa managed to squeeze into the apartment to notice Zuko’s frantic cleaning efforts. Zuko rapped several times on his uncle’s door.

“Uncle,” Zuko whisper-called, sliding open the door to Iroh’s room.

“I thought perhaps you had brought home a guest and wanted me out of the way,” said Iroh knowingly, even though he had read the situation wrong. He was sitting in his pajamas reading a Pai Sho strategy scroll.

“No,” Zuko whispered urgently. “Appa made friends with the Earth King’s pet bear and now _King Kuei_ is here to have tea.”

Zuko didn’t think he had ever seen his uncle look so surprised. It threw him off guard for a moment - obviously his uncle didn’t know everything that had ever or would ever happen, but sometimes it felt like it. “Please hurry,” Zuko begged, recovering quickly. He shut the door just as his uncle started gathering up his nicest clothes.

* * *

“This is the best tea I’ve ever had!” King Kuei drained his cup, then swapped it out with the cup he’d insisted on setting in front of Bosco. Iroh politely refilled ‘Bosco’s’ cup of tea. “I should have ventured out of the palace years ago - I’ve never seen the city before!”

“Never?” Zuko stared at him.

“It’s not proper for the Earth King to leave the palace grounds,” King Kuei recited.

“I guess it’s possible to manage a war from the palace,” Zuko mused. His father certainly didn’t travel out to the front lines. “You must have a lot of meetings with your generals.”

“Oh, no,” said Kuei, alarmed at the thought. “It’s not dignified for the Earth King to be involved in politics. My job is to be a symbol of unity for the people of the Earth Kingdom. Besides - the four nations have been at peace since the days of Avatar Kyoshi and the people of the Earth Kingdom are prospering.”

Zuko wasn’t sure whether it was his brain or his mouth that had stopped working, but either way, he couldn’t come up with a single word to contradict King Kuei’s strange ideas about the state of the world. Did he really not know about the genocide of the Air Nomads? That the Earth Kingdom had been losing land and resources and lives to the Fire Nation for decades? That his own people were packed like sardine-sharks in the Lower Ring of the city and starving all across his kingdom in tiny dying towns? That Earth Kingdom army members spread across the nation were bullying the people they were meant to protect and trying to drag little kids into the war? How was the king of the entire Earth Kingdom so oblivious? Did he do nothing but read outdated books and play with his bear all day?

“Lee, be respectful,” Iroh admonished. Zuko winced - he must have said that last part out loud. “It is not our place to judge the affairs of kings.”

“I take daily strolls around the palace grounds!” King Kuei eagerly informed them. “And occasionally, merchants come to present their finest goods and I get to pick out new outfits for Bosco. And once a year I throw a birthday party for Bosco! The guest list is handled by my advisors, of course.”

Zuko opened his mouth to tell the Earth King he needed to get his act together and take care of his people, not caring whether or not the words came out right because saying something was better than saying nothing, but Iroh cut him off.

“Your Majesty, would you like to join me in a game of pai sho? My nephew can keep Bosco and Appa company while we play.”

Iroh already had his pai sho board set up by the couch. He animatedly explained the rules to King Kuei as he divided up the pieces. Zuko let the teacups clatter together more noisily than necessary as he gathered them up. Iroh ignored him and King Kuei didn’t seem to notice. Zuko scrubbed at the dishes and within moments, the water was so hot it was steaming. He took several deep breaths and decided to finish washing them later when he wasn’t so upset.

Appa and Bosco were cuddled together by the window. Zuko sat against Appa, far enough away from Bosco that he wasn’t in immediate biting range but close enough that the Earth King wouldn’t get upset on his bear’s behalf. Moments after Zuko sat down, Bosco scooted closer and then tipped over so he was draped across Zuko’s legs. The bear seemed more interested in sleeping on Zuko than eating him, so Zuko patted the bear and turned his attention back to being upset on behalf of the people of the Earth Kingdom.

It wasn’t that King Kuei was a bad person or meant to harm his people, Zuko concluded. The man seemed nice enough and was convinced that staying out of politics was the proper thing to do. But someone had to do something - the Fire Nation kept advancing farther into the Earth Kingdom and there had been hundreds of refugees on the ferry they had taken to the city with more arriving all the time. The king’s own people were starving, the guards in the city were next to useless, and Earth Army soldiers bullied their own people and had no oversight, yet the king wanted to remain ignorant because of ancient social conventions. 

Zuko wanted to tell the Earth King about all the issues he should be working on for his people - but as unassuming as Kuei seemed, Zuko remembered what had happened the last time he had spoken up in front of the head of a nation. With Zuko’s luck, Kuei wouldn’t even listen to him and his uncle would lose the tea shop and their apartment and Zuko all at once. He couldn’t do that to him, Zuko reluctantly decided. Not when he didn’t expect Kuei to listen to him anyway.

Zuko hadn’t been in such a dour mood since before he had found Appa and decided to help the Avatar by returning his bison, giving up any remaining chance he had at returning home. If Ty Lee was in the room, he was sure she would tell him his aura had taken a nosedive. He supposed his good mood after his spiritual sickness couldn’t last forever, but the harsh reminder that he had joined the ranks of the majority of people who weren’t born into royalty or nobility stung. He and everyone else had to follow the whims of whoever was on the throne, even cruel rulers like his father or ignorant ones like King Kuei, and there was nothing he or anyone else could do about it.

Appa must have picked up on Zuko’s state of mind because the bison shifted around until he could shove his nose under Zuko’s hand, requesting pets. Zuko patted Appa with one hand and Bosco with the other. He meant to stay up and listen to his uncle and the Earth King attempt to play pai sho, but Appa made a comfortable backrest and Bosco made a surprisingly good blanket and Zuko had woken up half a dozen times the night before when the kids he was watching had had nightmares. Between one blink and another, he drifted off to sleep.

Clinking pai sho pieces being put away roused Zuko from his sloth-cat nap.

“Would you like to stay the night, Your Majesty?” Iroh offered. “I am sure the accommodations are not what you are accustomed to, but a man’s home is his castle, as they say!”

“Oh - no, but thank you,” Kuei said, glancing around the apartment and wrinkling his nose slightly, like he had just noticed how small and unadorned it was.

Zuko, even half-asleep, felt a rush of defensiveness for their home. It wasn’t as big as his quarters back at the palace had been, and he was sure Iroh’s had been even larger and the Earth King’s must be magnificent, but their apartment was a huge step up from three years on a ship and three weeks starving on a raft and months sleeping under the stars in the Earth Kingdom with an empty stomach. In contrast, their Upper Ring apartment was far bigger than just Zuko and Iroh needed (at least, it had been before Appa had shown up). Still, he held his tongue. 

“But Bosco’s birthday party is coming up soon and we would love for you to be there! And Appa’s original family, if you find the Avatar. Maybe you can come serve tea at the palace sometime!”

Iroh cheerfully agreed and promised to keep an eye out for a royal summons. He then shuffled up a yawning Zuko and Appa to take King Kuei and Bosco home. When Zuko returned from flying King Kuei and Bosco back to the palace on Appa with the help of Jet's cabbage stick invention, Iroh was drying the teacups Zuko had left soaking in water.

“I know I need to be better at being a refugee,” Zuko, who was wide awake from the effort of keeping himself from telling the Earth King about the war, told his uncle before Iroh could say anything. Appa squeezed into the apartment through his window entrance and Zuko reflexively moved out of the way so the bison had room to decide the best position to sleep in. “We’re lucky to have this chance to start our lives over and I need to respect the customs of the Earth Kingdom.”

“But?” Iroh prompted, somehow knowing Zuko had more to say.

“But even as Earth Kingdom commoners, we should still have a ruler who at least tries to take care of his country. Everyone has the right to be governed by a ruler who listens to the concerns of their people, no matter the status they were born into. But the Earth Kingdom has decided their rulers should be naive figureheads without even choosing someone else to run the country. Of course King Kuei didn’t want to hear about the war - he grew up learning that to be a good king is to stay out of politics. It’s rude to even mention the war in Ba Sing Se even though half the city is made up of refugees and you spent nearly two years with an army at its walls. If you had gotten into the city back then, you would have burned it to the ground and the people and their king would have been completely unprepared. But they all just want to stick their heads in the sand and ignore real life.”

Appa had settled in, laying on his side and hugging his tail to his chest. Zuko reached behind the couch, fished out the fuzzy green Avatar Kyoshi-inspired blanket he had bought for Appa at the market, and draped it over Appa’s head.

“And I hate that I can’t even believe being under Fire Nation rule would be better for them, because look how Fire Nation soldiers burned Song and destroyed Jet’s village and killed his parents and are running thousands of people out of their homes.”

“I am proud of you for learning about the damage the Fire Nation has done to the world, Prince Zuko,” said Iroh. “To learn such lessons on your own and go against the beliefs of your childhood is no easy thing. In these past weeks, since you made the decision to return the Avatar’s bison, you have helped many people and in doing so have realized your own honor. You have always been an honorable man, and no one can take that away from you.”

Zuko’s throat felt tight. Was it possible to restore his own honor by doing the right thing? Had it always been possible and Zuko had just been too caught up in his father’s empty promises of restoring something he could only control himself? “Do you really mean that, Uncle?”

“I do, Prince Zuko. The Fire Nation would have been well-served with you as Fire Lord.”

For a moment, Zuko fell back into his old habit of imagining what things would be like when his father finally welcomed him home. Zuko knew more about the different nations now and as the crown prince and future Fire Lord, he could make real change. Everyone would listen to him and he could end the war and tell the people of the Fire Nation that the people of the other nations were the same as them - they went out to dinner with friends and put on plays for each other and loved and laughed and cried the same as everyone in the Fire Nation. As Fire Lord, someday, Zuko could tell everyone to get along.

Zuko paused his line of thought. He remembered laughing at his uncle’s joke, along with Azula and his mom, about burning Ba Sing Se to the ground. It had been funny back then and now Zuko couldn’t even remember why. If they had thought they were at war to make the other nations better, why had destroying their homes been a joke? And it wasn’t just the royal family that thought that way. Zuko couldn’t change an entire nation’s mentality overnight. It would mean changing the education system and creating an exchange program with the other nations and years and years of everyone working together to create an era of peace and kindness in the world. Zuko knew his father would rather destroy the world than give up control. Even if Zuko captured the Avatar and became crown prince again, he would get himself banished again within the month for even suggesting they end the war.

Appa snored loudly and shifted in his sleep so he was closer to Zuko. Zuko set a hand on the sky bison. There was no way he could capture the Avatar and go home now - Appa would be devastated.

“A lot of the Fire Nation’s cruelty is at the command of the Fire Lord, but it’s also because we grow up learning we’re better than all the other nations and so soldiers think it’s okay to do whatever they want to people who are different. We pretend we’re at war to make people’s lives better, but we’re not making people’s lives better. It was never about making people’s lives better. Since the very beginning, it’s been about the Fire Nation deluding ourselves into believing we’re better than everyone else and so we deserve to control the world.”

Iroh’s eyebrows were lifted so high they reached the spot where his hairline used to begin. “I see you have been spending a lot of time with Jet, Prince Zuko.”

Jet did like to rant about the Fire Nation a lot, even though he knew Zuko was a firebender, but Zuko hadn’t really thought about life outside the walls of Ba Sing Se since he had found Appa. He had been guilty of exactly what he had just accused King Kuei and the rest of the city of doing - choosing the easy path.

“Perfection and power are overrated,” Iroh assured Zuko when he voiced his concerns. “I think you are very wise to choose peace and happiness. There is no shame in living a simple life.”

Zuko looked at Appa. Appa stretched his legs out, grumbled sleepily, then hugged his tail back to his chest. Zuko smiled fondly at the bison. He was happier with a simple life as a refugee in the Earth Kingdom than he had ever been as a prince of the Fire Nation. He had a nice apartment, friends, his uncle, a chance to deal out some vigilante justice with Jet, and, of course, Appa.


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Appa, Zuko, Jet, and a crate full of turtle ducks.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone kudo-ing and commenting! I'm sooo slow at responding but I love reading them <3

Zuko had scoured through six libraries to find a book on turtle duck habitats and had spent two days converting the fountain outside the Jasmine Dragon into a turtle duck-ready pond, but he couldn’t find actual turtle ducks anywhere. He had gone to every pond and lake in Ba Sing Se, had stopped by seven different animal shelters, and had even gone into a butcher shop in case they had turtle ducks. They hadn’t, but Zuko had left the shop with several sad-looking pig chickens he hadn’t been able to leave behind.

“We don’t have turtle ducks in Ba Sing Se,” Kenji the zookeeper told Zuko. Kenji patted the hog monkeys sitting by his feet. He pulled a handful of lychee nuts out of his pocket, handed the hog monkeys one each, and slipped the rest into the puzzle feeder Longshot had whittled out of a large piece of wood. The hog monkeys eagerly started playing with the puzzle feeder. The group of visitors looking into the enclosure clapped when one of the hog monkeys successfully pulled out a lychee nut.

“They live in the Earth Kingdom,” insisted Zuko from his spot next to Appa. One of the pig chickens (Zuko had brought them all to the zoo and they were now wandering lose around the grounds) kept running into Zuko’s shin. Zuko picked up the pig chicken, patted her several times, then set her back down next to two other pig chickens. “I read it in a book.”

A little girl ran up to Zuko and Appa and threw her arms around the sky bison. Appa nudged her happily. Zuko guided the girl up the stairs he had built for Appa to stand by so she could sit on Appa’s back, staying up with her in case she started to fall.

Jin, who was standing next to Jet and Longshot behind a table full of knitted sky bison fur items, said, “I’ve lived in the city all my life and I’ve never seen one.”

“I saw them in the forest by our hideout,” Smellerbee volunteered. She was sitting on a wall above the entrance, eying the people trailing in to make sure they paid the admission fee.

“Have _you_ seen a turtle duck?” Zuko asked the little girl, who was tracing shapes in Appa’s fur.

“Only at our old house!” The girl attempted to draw a turtle duck in Appa’s fur. She looked at Zuko to see what he thought and he told her it looked just like a real turtle duck. The girl grinned toothily and continued, “We lived in a Fire Nation colony. My dad’s an earthbender and he’s been in the Fire Nation army for ages. We used to feed the turtle ducks in the pond by our house every time he came home. But then these scary soldiers with skull masks showed up ‘bout a year ago. They told my mom to join the Fire Nation army ‘cause she’s a firebender and she said that wasn’t fair ‘cause my dad’s already in the army and then they burned down our house and we walked for weeks and weeks and weeks to come live here. But there’s no school and I miss my friends and I don’t know how my daddy will find us and I’m not supposed to talk about the war ever 'cause it's rude and I'm not supposed to tell anybody I can bend fire.”

Zuko blinked at the girl, who had thrown a hand over her mouth.

“I wasn’t supposed to say that,” she whispered to Zuko. She clutched nervously at Appa’s fur.

“I won’t tell anybody,” Zuko promised her. He glanced around. The zoo was getting busier every day, especially now that people could meet a sky bison a few times a week, but the crowd had followed Kenji down to the rabaroo exhibit. Zuko called a small flame to his palm and showed the girl. She gasped, delighted, and brought a matching flame to her own hand.

Zuko’s flame sputtered and he quickly put it out. The girl didn’t have any such problems, but she followed Zuko’s lead and extinguished her flame as well. After a few moments, the girl spotted her mother by the rabaroo crowd and clambered off Appa to run to her. She waved cheerily at Zuko as she left.

Zuko returned her wave, but frowned when she was no longer looking. How could the Fire Nation terrorize their own people like that? Some of the colonies were as old as the war and the people living there had the same rights as the people living closer to the heart of the Fire Nation. They were loyal to their country and willing to fight for what they believed was right - yet the Fire Nation betrayed that loyalty and wanted to take both parents away from a girl who couldn’t be older than Azula had been when Father had sent her to the Royal Fire Academy. It was seen as honorable for those with the gift of bending to join the Fire Nation army, and entire divisions were made up of benders, but Zuko had never considered that they might not all be there by choice.

“Lee? You good?” Jet snapped his fingers in Zuko’s face. Zuko shook his head, trying to clear it of thoughts of the war.

“Yeah,” Zuko said, his voice more upset than he’d meant for it to sound. It was bad enough the Fire Nation was hurting the people of the Earth Kingdom, but to find out the people of the Fire Nation were suffering too? Zuko thought he had already seen the worst of the war’s impact while traveling across the Earth Kingdom. He had been wrong. The war caused more pain to everyone in the world each day it went on. He thought of Song’s burns and Lee’s brother and the people who had been just as hungry as Zuko yet still found it in their hearts to share what little they had and now, this little Fire Nation girl who had lost her home and would probably never see her father again. Even in the so-called impenetrable city, the ripple effects of suffering caused by the war were inescapable. “Just thinking about turtle ducks.”

* * *

“Hey, Lee.”

Zuko looked around to find the source of the voice. Jet was leaning against the wall in the shadows behind the Jasmine Dragon, his arms crossed and a stick of wheat in his mouth, as always. He jerked his head towards the space in the shadows next to him. Zuko glanced around, then slunk into the shadows by Jet.

“I got a lead on something you’ll be interested in. You free tonight?”

Zuko raised his eyebrow. A lead could mean a lot of things with Jet - another trafficking triad that needed busting, protecting a soup kitchen run by two old men out of their home from being broken into by thieves every night, a corrupt station of guards, a new set of homeless kids Jet had taken in and wanted Zuko’s help training to defend themselves. Zuko still nodded, despite the uncertainty.

“Meet me on the roof of your apartment building at midnight. Bring a hundred copper coins and a crate.”

Appa, dressed in the green and yellow greeter uniform Zuko had made for him out of a truly tremendous amount of fabric, had heard their hushed voices behind the Jasmine Dragon and had come to see what they were doing. As soon as the bison saw Zuko and Jet in the shadows, he bounded up to them. Appa loudly sniffed them both, checking to see if they were hiding any food in their pockets. Zuko slipped an apple out of his apron pocket and Appa slurped it up.

* * *

Jet nodded approvingly at the wood crate Zuko had in his arms. Without warning, he pulled a knife from his belt and stabbed several holes in the top and sides. He opened the crate and dumped out the chunks of wood that had fallen to the bottom.

“You have the money?”

“I grabbed a few gold coins-” Zuko began, but Jet cut him off.

“Copper only. Go back - I’ll wait.”

Zuko begrudgingly climbed back into his apartment and counted out the copper coins. On number sixty-one, he accidentally knocked them off the table and they went spilling to the ground. The noise woke Appa. Zuko frantically shushed the bison before he grumbled and alerted his uncle. When Zuko finally had the copper coins counted out and tucked in a bag, he returned to the roof, Appa struggling out the window after him.

“I don’t know why Mushi made us fix the wall - Appa could get in and out so much faster when it was busted,” Jet sighed, long since resigned to Appa following along wherever Zuko went. Appa was halfway out, but his leg had probably gotten caught on the table again, because he was wiggling but making no progress as he attempted to squeeze the rest of the way through.

Zuko returned to the inside of his apartment, squeezing past Appa to get through the window, and scooted the table away from Appa’s leg. He tried to push Appa the rest of the way through. The bison didn’t budge. Zuko took a deep breath and pushed again, leaning his whole body against Appa. Appa finally popped free from the window. He tried to land on the roof next to Jet, but Zuko clambered down the side of the apartment wall and whistled for Appa to come land on the ground instead. Jet tossed down the crate for Zuko to catch, then jumped onto the lower roof of the building next door and then right onto Appa’s back.

* * *

Jet’s contact was a woman with steely eyes and plaited hair. She was waiting for them outside of a dark, rundown house in a particularly bad area of the Lower Ring. Her arms were crossed.

“You’re late,” she told Jet, who had gone ahead of Zuko and Appa. “Did the buyer actually show?”

Jet nodded at Zuko. Zuko walked into view, Appa on his heels.

The woman’s eyes lit up when she saw Appa. She took a step towards the bison. Appa took a step back. “You have a sky bison! I’ve seen pictures, but I never thought I would meet one in real life. I heard a group down in the desert had one for a while, but it got away. If you’re interested in selling it, you could make a fortune. Enough to buy a home in the Upper Ring and hire a dozen servants for a lifetime.”

Zuko moved to stand between Appa and the woman. “He’s not for sale.”

The woman frowned. “You drive a hard bargain. Fine - I’ll pay enough for you to buy a palanquin to replace traveling on the sky bison. They seem pretentious, but rich folks seem to like them.”

Jet stepped forward, his hand casually resting on the hilts of his swords in his belt. “He said the bison’s not for sale. Do you have what we discussed or not?”

The woman cast a last wistful look at Appa, then disappeared into the dark house. She returned with a cage packed full with several adult turtle ducks and at least a dozen turtle ducklings. A few were quacking sadly, but most seemed to have given up on protesting. The woman set the cage down on the doorstep so hard that the metal clanged.

“What did you do to them?” Zuko demanded. He swooped the cage off the ground and was halfway through opening it when Jet set a hand on his shoulder.

“The last thing we need is a bunch of turtle ducks wandering around the Lower Ring,” Jet said. “We’ll put them in the crate when we’re done here. They’ll be fine for a while longer.”

Zuko glared at the woman suspiciously. “What other animals do you have in there?”

“None,” said the woman. She put both her hands up, though Zuko could see one hovering lower, ready to grab the hilt of the dagger tucked in her belt at a moment’s notice. “I’m getting out of the business.”

Zuko carefully handed the cage to Jet and then pushed past the woman to check the house for himself. He could see several long-empty cages, but she had been telling the truth - the turtle ducks were the only animals she had left. He stomped back outside.

“If I hear of you or anyone else treating animals like this, I won’t hesitate to report you directly to the Earth King,” Zuko threatened. “And that’s if you’re lucky - my friend and I might just decide to take care of things ourselves. Understand?”

The woman nodded quickly. Zuko glared at her for a moment longer. Behind his shoulder, Appa was glaring too. Finally, he turned to leave, Jet and Appa on his heels.

* * *

Somehow, they managed to get all the turtle ducks back to the Jasmine Dragon without losing any. Appa seemed to know the way home, so they no longer had to steer him with the cabbages unless they were going somewhere new. Zuko and Jet had moved the sad turtle ducks to the crate while on Appa’s back, which, in hindsight, had been a terrible decision. The turtle ducklings had wiggled out of their grasp and climbed all over the pair of teenagers. A couple of the babies had gotten all the way up to Appa’s head and Zuko had nearly had a heart attack when one almost fell off. The parent turtle ducks had started quacking frantically in the crate when they realized the babies weren’t with them. Jet and Zuko had tried to scoop the turtle ducklings in throughout the entire flight, but they had just kept escaping. Zuko’s relief at seeing the pond outside the Jasmine Dragon had rivaled his relief at seeing dry land after three weeks on a raft after the North Pole.

“I have to admit - turtle ducks are pretty adorable,” said Jet. He leaned back against Appa, extended out his legs, crossed his ankles, and put his hands behind his head with his fingers laced together. “I guess I can see why you were crying about them the other day.”

“I wasn’t crying,” Zuko protested, trying to keep his mind off the real reason he’d been upset. He tossed in another handful of quartered grapes and watched the turtle ducks eagerly swim towards the chunks.

“The little one is called The Duke and the big one is Pipsqueak,” Jet decided. He pointed to where the tiniest turtle duckling and the biggest were swimming next to each other.

One of the mom turtle ducks kept herding all the babies back into the pond when they tried to slip out. Zuko closed his eyes. The turtle ducks were quacking and the water gently sloshed as they swam and he could almost imagine he was back home, sitting next to his mom as they tossed bread to the turtle ducklings in the palace pond. He opened his eyes and pointed at the mom turtle duck. “I’m going to call that one Ursa.”

Jet raised an eyebrow at Zuko. “Wasn’t Ursa the name of Ozai’s wife?”

Zuko froze. “Um…”

“She disappeared five years ago. I overheard some guards talking about it back when I lived near a Fire Nation-controlled town.”

“She was my mom,” Zuko admitted.

Jet’s eyes widened in surprise, then narrowed. “Are you telling me I just got turtle ducks for a Fire Nation prince?”

“I’m not a prince,” said Zuko. Stupidly, he added, “At least, not anymore.”

Jet jumped to his feet. Appa stood as well and lumbered out of the way, sensing trouble. “Is Lee even your real name?” He drew his hook swords and swung them at Zuko. Zuko barely had time to pull out his dual dao and block.

“Jet, I’m sorry I didn’t tell you, but-”

Jet unleashed a volley of hits, forcing Zuko to jump back with each swing. Jet hooked one of his swords around Zuko’s ankle. Zuko had fought alongside Jet enough times to know what was coming and kicked his foot forward and out of the hook’s grip before Jet could pull him off balance. The loss of the expected weight made Jet stumble to the ground and drop one of his swords, but he turned his fall into a roll and was on his feet again within moments.

“You know I’m not with the Fire Nation anymore,” Zuko insisted. He took several steps back to try to stay out of Jet’s way.

“Your family started the war,” Jet accused, rushing forward to come at Zuko from his bad side. “And you’ve kept it going for a hundred years.”

Zuko spun so he could see Jet’s sword better and blocked it with his own. “I haven’t even been home in three years. I spoke out against a plan at the only war meeting I ever went to and got banished for it.”

Metal scraped against metal. Zuko’s swords got caught in the hooked end of Jet’s. Jet tugged, nearly pulling Zuko’s swords out of his grasp. Zuko quickly adjusted his grip and freed one of his swords, the other clattering to the ground. 

“You should be happy there’s a turtle duck named after Ursa,” Zuko huffed, trying to force out the words through burning lungs. “I'm pretty sure she killed Fire Lord Azulon. And I don’t want anything to do with the war. I'm just trying to escape from my past and start a new life here, same as you.”

Zuko came at Jet with a series of swings that backed him up against the water’s edge. The turtle ducks swam to the edges of the pond to get out of the way. Jet took another step back and tripped over the ledge. He flailed for a moment. Zuko stuck out a hand and Jet reached out to take it, but he lost his balance before he could grab on and fell into the water. The water splashed up, drenching Jet and Zuko both. Jet glared at Zuko, but didn’t make a move to grab his sword or get up again. After several moments, Zuko dropped his own sword and held out his hand to help Jet up. Jet took it - then yanked so Zuko fell into the pond as well.

The turtle ducklings cautiously swam over to the pair. One climbed into Zuko’s hair and another clambered onto Jet’s shoulder. Appa came over to the pond and laid down in front of it. Immediately, several turtle ducklings swam over to the bison and cuddled by his head.

After a long time, Jet said, “I believe you. Only because I don’t think the Fire Lord would let any heir he actually cared about serve tea and babysit sky bisons. But I hate your dad.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: Aang finally gets to Ba Sing Se!


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aang arrives in Ba Sing Se!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much to everyone commenting and kudo-ing!! I LOVE reading what you love about this fic and everyone saying this story gives them serotonin gives me serotonin 💛💛💛 
> 
> Zuko thinks about the horrors of the Air Nomad genocide for a few lines and imagines what would have happened if Appa had been there instead of being frozen. If you want to skip that, it starts at: _Zuko stared quizzically at the Avatar from under his hat. All at once, the pieces clicked. By before, he meant before the Air Nomads had been wiped out._ The section ends at: _Appa took a step forward, scooting the Avatar along with him, and nudged his nose under Zuko’s hand._

The Avatar finally showed up at the tea shop three weeks after the Jasmine Dragon opened. He was clutching a ‘found bison’ flyer and he looked so young that Zuko wondered how he had ever tried to drag the kid back to his father. Who knew what the Fire Lord would have done to the kid? Zuko’s fingers brushed against his scar. The absent-minded touch jolted Zuko back into focus. He forced his hand back down to his side. Zuko ducked behind the counter, out of view, and grabbed a straw hat he had stashed there. He plopped it on his head and pulled the brim down low.

“Um - I’m looking for a Lee?” the Avatar said politely, peering down at the top of Zuko’s head.

“That’s me,” Zuko said gruffly, attempting to disguise his voice. He stood carefully so the hat kept his face hidden in its shadow. 

“My sky bison, Appa, is missing and I saw this found poster,” the Avatar said eagerly, holding up the flyer to show Zuko.

Zuko grimaced at the Appa drawing he had been so proud of a month earlier; he could see now why Jin had giggled and Jet had bluntly told him it was bad. He reached out and pushed down the flyer so his drawing wasn’t mockingly staring him in the face. “Appa’s napping in my apartment. It’s pretty sunny today so he’s taking a break from being our greeter.”

The Avatar bounded after Zuko as he led the way to his apartment, not even a bit suspicious. Zuko couldn’t help but think about how easy it would be to capture the Avatar with his guard down, but for the first time, he was worried about the kid getting kidnapped by someone else instead of trying to do the kidnapping himself. Not that he was worried on behalf of the kid, Zuko reasoned. It was just that Appa would be upset if he was reunited with the Avatar only to be separated again. Soon, Appa would leave and Zuko would stay in Ba Sing Se and never have to think about the Avatar again. As soon as Zuko thought about Appa leaving, something tugged in his heart and he felt like Appa was sitting on his chest, making it hard to breathe. He forced air in and out of his lungs.

The Avatar, who had introduced himself as Aang, was talking nonstop, explaining how Appa had gotten separated from his group in the first place, how he had gone into the Avatar state when he had found out that the bison-nappers had muzzled Appa (and he looked a bit embarrassed at that but didn’t seem to regret it one bit, and Zuko could respect that), and his long journey to Ba Sing Se.

“And our friend Suki came with us to the city!” the Avatar exclaimed. “The rest of the Kyoshi warriors stayed to help the incoming refugees, but Suki said she thought we'd get into too much trouble if she wasn't here to bail us out.”

Zuko fumbled with the key to the apartment, dropping it twice and putting it in the wrong side up three times.

“Kyoshi is one of my past lives, she’s _so_ cool, even though she confessed to sort-of killing Chin the Conqueror when I was on trial and nearly got me boiled in a vat of oil, but she’s still awesome, and-Appa!”

Zuko had barely gotten the door open when the Avatar went flying past him towards the bison. The Avatar landed on Appa’s head, hugging him as tight as he could.

“I missed you so much,” the Avatar bawled. “I’m so sorry, Appa.”

Appa tried to lick the Avatar while the boy was hugging him, but was only able to get his feet. The Avatar slid down so Appa could properly lick him while he hugged the bison’s nose. Appa was making happy grumbles and was practically bouncing, shaking the floor. Zuko wiped his good eye with the back of his hand.

“Um, his eyes were crusty when I found him and he still has some medicine to get through. You just need to put it on his eyes three times a week for the next two weeks and then once a week for a month,” said Zuko. His voice was still gruff, but now it was just as much about disguising the emotion in his voice as it was about disguising his voice itself. Would this be the last time he ever saw Appa? Would Appa miss him when he left with the Avatar?

Zuko pulled the large tube of ointment out of the cupboard and moved to apply it to Appa’s eyes. He dodged past the Avatar, who was still hugging Appa’s nose. Appa was used to the ointment and obligingly let Zuko put it on like the good bison he was. Zuko patted Appa when he was done, put the cap back on, and was halfway through returning it to the cupboard when he realized the Avatar would need to take it with him. The realization brought the heavy, miserable feeling back to his chest, but Zuko ignored it. He pulled out the sky bison brush and set the brush and the ointment on the table in front of the Avatar.

“Um, this brush works really well on his mats,” said Zuko. “He had a bunch of mats when I first found him, but they’re pretty much all gone now and if you use the comb every day he won’t get any more.”

Zuko would have facepalmed if he wasn’t wearing the hat to disguise himself. Why was he giving an airbender advice about taking care of his own bison?

The Avatar didn’t seem to mind Zuko’s unsolicited advice. “That’s a real Air Nomad sky bison brush! It looks just like the one I used on Appa before…” The Avatar’s voice trailed off.

Zuko stared quizzically at the Avatar from under his hat. All at once, the pieces clicked. By _before_ , he meant before the Air Nomads had been wiped out. Zuko had seen the Air Nomad and Fire Nation skeletons at the air temples during his three-year search. He had also seen massive animal bones guarding rooms with the smallest skeletons inside.

Zuko looked at Appa and realized the massive bones must have belonged to the sky bison living at the temples.

He imagined Appa squaring himself in the huge doorway Zuko had seen at the Western Air Temple, dozens of children huddled in the room behind him.

He imagined Appa flinching back from the fire the way he had when Zuko had first found him. 

He imagined Appa roaring in fear but standing his ground the way the sky bison had stood their ground a hundred years ago. 

He imagined Appa burning the way Zuko had burned, but the fire just kept coming and coming and coming.

The sky bison and all the adult Air Nomads outside the room had fought to the last, but the Fire Nation must have gotten into the room anyway because there had been so many small skeletons wearing tattered and scorched Air Nomad robes. Zuko had thrown up when he had found the tiny skeletons and he had thrown up when he had smelled the burning bones during the funeral he and his uncle and his crew had had for the hundred-year-dead strangers and Zuko felt like he was going to throw up again now.

“I’m sorry about your people,” Zuko said quietly, his voice hoarse. Growing up, the Air Nomad genocide had always seemed like a distant, long-ago chapter in history books, but looking at Appa and the airbender kid in front of him made him realize just how real it had been. Every single skeleton he had seen and given a funeral to, sky bison and Air Nomad and Fire Nation soldier alike, had once laughed and loved and lived life, just like Appa and the Avatar and Zuko. If Zuko had been alive back then, and old enough to be in the army, would he have been one of the Fire Nation soldiers who had helped kill all the airbenders? Would he have been one of the bodies left to decay alongside the people he had killed? Would he have thought killing monks and children was wrong? Would he have spoken up, as he had in the war council meeting years ago? Would it have made any difference if he had? Zuko felt like there was so much more he should say to the kid, but he didn’t know what to say or how to say it. Finally, he settled on, “What happened to them was wrong.” 

Appa took a step forward, scooting the Avatar along with him, and nudged his nose under Zuko’s hand. Zuko buried both his hands in Appa’s fur and rested his forehead against the bison. The hat slipped back a bit but thankfully stayed on.

Zuko risked a glance at the Avatar. He was holding the brush reverently in one hand and had his other hand clutched in Appa’s fur. His eyes shone with unshed tears.

“Sorry. I shouldn’t have said anything,” Zuko said awkwardly. He hadn’t meant to make the kid cry.

“No, don’t be sorry,” said the Avatar - Aang, Zuko corrected himself. “Most people don’t like to talk about the Air Nomads. I don’t think anyone even remembers them. It feels strange because Appa and I were accidentally frozen in ice for a hundred years, before our people were all...all killed. For everyone else, it’s been a hundred years, but I still remember everything because it was only a few months ago for me.”

Zuko had been gone for three years but he still had home seared in his head and his heart. He thought about what he still remembered: feeding the turtle ducks with his mom, watching terrible interpretations of classic plays on Ember Island, Azula dragging him along to hang out with her and Mai and Ty Lee every day after their mother had disappeared. He pictured waking up one morning and finding out every single person he had ever known was dead along with everyone who had ever known them: his uncle and his sister and Mai and Ty Lee and the Ember Island Players and the servants who had flitted around the palace and the people he had seen passing by the few times they had gone to the market in Caldera City and the people on his crew, who might have already died at the North Pole but at least they were _remembered_ , and the little firebending girl he had met at the zoo. Aang had lost all of his people and he was the only one left to remember them. All he had left of his life before was Appa.

“When Appa was missing, I was so worried I had lost him forever too,” Aang sniffled. “I spent the whole time thinking about how scared he must be. And I’m just so happy he found someone to take care of him instead of being locked up and hurt and miserable.”

Aang threw his arms around Zuko. Zuko awkwardly patted him on the back. Aang pulled away after a long time and rubbed at his eyes.

“Um, he _was_ scared of fire when I first found him a month ago,” Zuko told Aang, trying to push out all the information he could before he started crying too. “I’ve been working with him and he’s gotten a lot less scared. And there’s a zookeeper down in the Middle Ring with hay for Appa. The zoo will hopefully be moving to the Agricultural Ring soon but we’ll put up signs when it does so you’ll be able to find it.”

Zuko unfolded a small, fuzzy green blanket and tossed it over Appa’s head like a hood. “And this is Appa’s favorite blanket, it’s too small for him, obviously, but he really seems to like it and-”

Appa licked Zuko, knocking off his hat and leaving him dripping. Zuko quickly grabbed his hat and slammed it back on his head but the damage was done; the Avatar had recognized him.

“I can’t believe it,” Aang breathed, staring at Zuko wide-eyed.

Zuko stared back, trying to decide if he could make the jump out the window. The drop would be pretty steep, but he really didn’t want to fight off the Avatar in their new apartment with its nice furniture and Uncle’s tea collection in the corner and-

“Appa found me a firebending teacher!”

“Um.”

“This is perfect!” Aang continued, grinning from ear to ear. The only sign that he had been crying was the redness around his eyes. Zuko wished he had Aang’s ability to cheer himself up so quickly; he tended to brood for hours after he got upset. “Fire is the last element I need to learn and it’s been so hard to find a teacher. And we’re going to be in Ba Sing Se for weeks, so we can train that whole time!”

“No,” Zuko said firmly. “My uncle and I are starting a new life here. I don’t want to risk it. I just want a...a life of peace and prosperity, my uncle called it. I just want to be Lee from the tea shop.”

“But this is like _destiny_ ,” Aang insisted.

Zuko winced. He had told his uncle his destiny was helping the Avatar, but he had hoped ‘helping the Avatar’ meant reuniting him and Appa, not getting involved in the war again.

“And besides,” Aang continued, “you can’t make Appa leave his new friend. We can have sleepovers! Your apartment is super nice and smells like tea and our house has a cool garden where we can practice bending.” Aang looked out the window then started rolling around on a ball made of air in excitement. “You can see our house from here! The spirits outdid themselves on this one, I guess they really wanted it to be obvious that you being my firebending teacher is destiny.”

Zuko looked at Appa. The sky bison’s eyes were filled with affection as he looked at Aang. For a moment, Zuko thought about taking the Avatar up on his offer; he could see Appa every day and help bring the war and all the suffering it inflicted on the world to an end. But then Zuko thought about just how unlikely it was that the Avatar could actually stop his father. Sure, the ocean spirit had taken out Zhao’s whole fleet at the North Pole, but there was a big difference between the ocean spirit wiping out a bunch of ships and the Avatar, who was a twelve-year-old-monk, defeating an entire nation’s army. And even if he could, how could Zuko justify killing his own people? The Fire Nation soldiers loved and defended their nation. Zuko couldn’t - wouldn’t - betray them. And if Zuko helped, his uncle could lose the tea shop.

“I’m done with destiny,” Zuko told Aang. “I should really be getting back to the tea shop.”

Zuko hugged Appa tightly, burying his face in the bison’s fur to hide the tears that were already falling from his good eye and threatened to spill from his bad eye too. He held on to Appa for a long time. The poor bison had been so scared when Zuko had first found him and Zuko knew he had missed the Avatar desperately. Would Appa miss Zuko? Did the bison understand that they would never see each other again? Did Zuko even want Appa to miss him if that meant the bison would be sad? Maybe it was better for Appa to forget all about his time with Zuko, especially since the sky bison obviously shared a special connection with the Avatar. Appa’s time with Zuko was just a soon-to-be-forgotten memory, a footnote written in sand that would be washed away with the tides. Appa must travel to so many places with the Avatar; he must meet so many people. Appa would go back to his normal life with the Avatar and Zuko would stay in Ba Sing Se, serving tea and waiting for the war to end, one way or another. Zuko had told his uncle he wanted a quiet life away from the war, but Zuko had somehow come to include Appa in all his visions of the future, however short his future may be with the Fire Nation knocking on Ba Sing Se’s walls. Zuko had searched for the Avatar to reunite him and Appa, knowing that meant Appa would leave, but had still allowed himself to dream about a peaceful life with Appa by his side that could never exist.

Zuko held on to Appa even more tightly, trying to convey all of the love he felt for the bison in the hug, then fled the apartment.

* * *

“Hey.”

Zuko stubbornly kept his eyes closed and sunk lower into the water. The metal of Jet’s swords clinked as he sat down on the edge of the pond.

“Your uncle told me to come check on you. He said he sent you home early because you were making the customers depressed, but instead of going home you climbed into the turtle duck pond.”

One of the turtle ducklings floating by Zuko quacked and then climbed on top of his head. 

“You wanna go beat up some corrupt guards with me? That always makes you happy.”

Zuko lifted his head to glare at Jet. His wet bangs were plastered to his forehead. “I’m never happy.”

“You’re happy when Appa’s around,” Jet countered, then winced. He hadn’t meant to mention the sky bison.

Zuko sat up, carefully taking the turtle duckling off his head and setting her back in the water. “But now he’s gone. I don’t know why I’m so upset. I knew the Avatar would come back for him. And Appa was so happy to see him. I should be happy that Appa’s happy. And I am. But I also really, really miss him.”

“It’s been two hours.”

“But that means I’m only two hours into missing him for the rest of my life.” Zuko slid back into the water. Several turtle ducklings poked at his hair.

Jet ran a hand over his face, suddenly realizing why Zuko’s uncle had sent Jet to handle Zuko instead of intervening himself.

“Okay,” Jet said in the ‘I-have-a-plan’ voice he used for reassuring crying young Freedom Fighters. “I’m going to send all the mini Freedom Fighters to your apartment to hang out with your uncle, Longshot and I will make dinner, Smellerbee and Jin will close up the Jasmine Dragon, and then they’re going to drag you down to our apartment so you can practice what to say to Aang, Sokka, and Katara to convince them to let you see Appa sometimes.”

Jet stood. He looked down at Zuko. All the turtle ducks were floating next to him. Jet debated shooing them away and making Zuko get out of the pond, but the turtle ducks looked so happy and Zuko was sad enough about Aang picking up Appa. If Zuko wanted to mope in the turtle duck pond until the Jasmine Dragon closed, Jet wasn’t going to stop him.

* * *

“Hello. Zuko here.”

“Who’s Zuko?” asked Jin.

“Oh,” said Zuko. “That’s me. Zuko, I mean. My real name is Zuko. Not Lee.”

“Huh,” said Jet. “That’s gonna take some getting used to.”

“You can still call me Lee. If you want. I don’t really care and I’ve gone by Lee for a while now. And I guess we’re all going to be in Ba Sing Se for a while. At least, until the Avatar defeats the Fire Lord. Or the Fire Nation takes over and executes me for treason.”

“Treason?” Jin squeaked.

Longshot held up his hand, his palm facing towards Zuko. Zuko hesitantly high fived him.

“How did you get yourself wanted for treason?” Smellerbee asked earnestly, leaning forward and giving Zuko her full attention.

“Uncle tried to stop Zhao - he was a Fire Nation admiral - from killing the moon at the Northern Water Tribe a few months ago,” Zuko explained.

“Is that what happened when the world went all red and then gray for a while?” Jet asked. “Because that was weird.”

“Yeah,” said Zuko. “I’m not really sure how they fixed that. I was kind of unconscious for part of it because the Avatar’s waterbending friend knocked me out when I tried to fight her on an iceberg.”

“Katara’s awesome,” grinned Smellerbee. “She froze Jet to a tree when we tried to kill an entire town.”

Jin looked at Jet with wide eyes.

“The people are fine,” Jet told her. He tried to look nonchalant, but quickly gave up on that and looked down at his shoes. “And I feel bad about it now.”

They sat in awkward silence. Longshot nodded at Zuko to get him to keep explaining the treason thing.

“Um.” Zuko tried to remember where he had left off. “When I woke up, I went to fight Zhao because he tried to have me killed a few weeks earlier by blowing up my ship. And then the ocean spirit kind of ate him?”

“Well,” said Jin. She was quiet for an awkwardly long time, looking for the right words. “That sounds...horrifying.”

“Yeah.”

Zuko thought about Lieutenant Jee and all the other members of his crew who had sailed around the world with him for three years. Zuko had seen so many destroyed ships and pieces of wreckage had drifted by their raft for the first week, but he hadn’t seen any bodies. Had they been trapped inside the wrecked ships or had the Northern Water Tribe gone out to collect the shipless soldiers? And would the Northern Water Tribe kill the firebenders, like the Fire Nation had killed the waterbenders of the Southern Water Tribe after the prison break? Or would they keep them as prisoners of war? Part of Zuko wanted to find out if Aang knew what had happened, but the other part of him wanted to hold on to a scrap of hope.

“Anyway.” Zuko shuffled awkwardly. “The Fatherlord-”

“ _Fatherlord?_ ” Smellerbee echoed incredulously, raising an eyebrow at Zuko and stifling a laugh.

Zuko turned red. “Fire Lord. I said Fire Lord.”

“His dad is the Fire Lord,” Jet informed the others, smirking. His brow furrowed. His smirk fell off his face and he turned to Zuko. “Your dad is the Fire Lord. But you said the Fire Lord was the one who gave you that scar.”

“I didn’t lie to you,” Zuko said hotly.

“Relax,” said Jet. “I didn’t say you did. I guess I just thought Fire Nation royalty plundered and murdered and burned other people, not family. But I guess if the Fire Lord is willing to permanently scar and banish his own kid, that explains why he doesn’t have a problem hurting strangers too.”

“I was disrespectful,” Zuko said quietly. “And a coward. I told you I faced him in a fire duel, but I didn’t even fight.”

Jet shrugged. “Everyone freezes up sometimes. Personally, I wouldn’t hesitate to stab the Fire Lord if I was ever in stabbing-distance, especially now that I know he’s an evil imperialistic dictator _and_ an awful dad. But I’ve been fighting for years and I had my share of freezes when I was younger.”

Zuko hadn’t frozen - he had begged for mercy on his knees. But he didn’t really want to admit that to Jet and Smellerbee and Longshot, who had all lost their parents when they were young and had been fighting ever since. Zuko still remembered sleeping on the streets of Caldera City after he had been kicked out of the palace. The infection had blazed hot near his eye and the bandage had soaked through but he didn’t have any money to buy another. Zuko had barely lasted a week before Azula had convinced their father to give Zuko a small ship and send his uncle with him; Jet and Smellerbee and Longshot had survived on their own for years. 

“So, uh,” said Smellerbee. “How did Lee - I mean, Zuko - being a prince even come up?”

“He named a mother turtle duck after his mom and I recognized the name and tried to kill him for being Fire Nation royalty,” Jet said unabashedly.

“That’s so cute!” Jin grinned. “Well, the turtle duck thing is adorable. Not the Jet-trying-to-kill-you thing and the abusive-father thing.”

Zuko, eager to change the subject, pressed on with his explanation about treason. “ _Anyway_ , Father wanted Uncle arrested for treason and he wanted me out of the way because he thinks I’m an embarrassment to the family. So Uncle and I ran away to the Earth Kingdom and now we’re both wanted for treason. I saw posters telling people to kill us on sight.”

“I wish I was still wanted for treason against the Fire Nation,” Jet sighed. He pulled his ever-present stick of wheat out of his mouth, eyed it like he was imagining what it would look like on a wanted notice, then returned it to his mouth. “I would plaster the wall with my wanted posters.”

“You were never wanted for treason,” Smellerbee corrected him. “The Fire Nation wasn’t our nation to begin with. You can’t be a traitor to a different country.”

Jet didn’t care about that clarification, if the way he was sizing up the wall was any indication.

“So, your storytelling could use some work,” Jin told Zuko. “But hey, all you need to do is get some bison visitation rights. So go ahead and start over.”

Zuko took a deep breath. He could do this.

“Right. Okay. So - hello. Zuko here. I know you’re probably surprised to see me since I, you know, chased you around the world? Sorry about that. I, uh, I won’t do that anymore. I actually work at a tea shop now! And I brought you some free tea coupons. We have the best tea in the whole Earth Kingdom. But anyway. Uh, I don’t want to get involved with the war or anything, since my uncle has a good thing going with the tea shop and I don’t want to ruin things for him and it’s actually peaceful working as a tea server. Well, except for when that one customer comes in who asks for lychee tea with the lychee nuts on the side. He always gets mad when I bring him hot water and a handful of lychee nuts in a bowl, but I don’t know what he wants me to do and he never explains but he still comes in three times a week. Or that customer who-”

Jin cleared her throat to get Zuko back on topic.

“Right, sorry. Um, I was hoping maybe I could visit Appa sometimes? I know it’s only been a few hours, but I miss him a lot. He’s a really good boy and I know sometimes you need to run errands maybe and I could watch him while you’re busy? And I can come by and brush him anytime. And whenever you’re in Ba Sing Se, I can give you free tea and see Appa if that’s okay. So, uh. What’s your answer?”

Jet, Jin, Smellerbee, and Longshot all blinked up at Zuko. Zuko slumped.

“Not gonna lie, you sound a little despera-” Jet began.

“I think it’s good,” Jin cut Jet off. “He’s doing his best and I think the Avatar’s friends will appreciate that.”

“Yeah,” agreed Smellerbee. “I mean, it’s Zuko. It’s not like he’ll ever get cast in Love Amongst the Lion Turtles.”

“Oh,” said Zuko, who had been eyeing the community theatre audition poster for the last few days.

“But maybe someday!” Jin hurried to contradict Smellerbee. “I bet you’d do a great job with a script since you wouldn’t have to decide what to say!”

“You could also just skip all this and sneak into their house to see Appa at night,” Jet suggested. “Or just sit around and mope all night. You do you.”

* * *

The apartment was too empty without Appa. Zuko tossed and turned for over an hour, but he just couldn’t get comfortable in his bedroll - he was too used to cuddling against a giant fluffy bison. Finally, he went to the window where Aang had pointed out his house; it really was close to Zuko and Iroh’s apartment. The moon was full and by the light shining down, Zuko could see Appa gazing sadly out the window, his fuzzy green Kyoshi blanket on his head. Zuko caught the bison’s eye and Appa’s expression brightened. Zuko waved at the bison, then reluctantly turned to go back to his bedroll. Out of the corner of his good eye, Zuko saw Appa droop. Zuko went back to the window and waved again - Appa cheered up.

Zuko hesitated for several long moments before he decided to take Jet’s advice and sneak in to see Appa. With a sigh, he grabbed his blanket, tied it around his shoulders so his hands were free, and scaled down the side of the apartment building.

“Zuko!” Aang whisper-shouted when Zuko slipped through the window. “Are you here for a sleepover? Let me wake up the others, they’re going to be so-”

Zuko shushed him, eying the bedroom doors on the far side of the room. Appa spotted Zuko and bounced to his feet. Zuko hurried to pet him before he started taking steps and shaking the house. “I’m here for a sleepover with Appa, not you.”

“Oh,” said Aang, hanging his head.

“Um - no offense,” said Zuko, awkwardly. “Not that you’re not a fun kid, probably. It’s just that I could see Appa out of my window and he looked really sad.”

Aang brightened. “He’s been grumbling for hours and keeping me up. Now I can finally get some sleep! By the way - I love your turtle duck blanket cape!”

Zuko turned red, quickly untying the turtle duck themed blanket from around his shoulders and hiding it from Aang’s view. Aang flopped onto Appa’s back and was asleep a few moments later. Zuko settled in next to Appa, angling himself so the others wouldn’t notice him right away if they woke up before he did. He meant to stay awake, in case one of them came to check on the noise, but Appa was so comfortable that Zuko fell asleep before the moon had even moved in the sky.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next up: Aang uses his koala-puppy-dog eyes on Zuko, Momo adopts Zuko, and Toph finds out Zuko's been running a bison daycare for the last month!


	6. Chapter 6

The moment the sun peeked over the horizon, Zuko opened his eyes to a winged lemur sitting on his chest and staring at him. He shot up so fast that he tripped over Appa’s legs and fell over, tangled up in his turtle duck blanket. It took him way longer than he’d like to admit to get to his feet. The lemur, who had hopped onto Appa’s back, blinked down at him the whole time through wide, curious eyes.

“Good morning, Momo,” Aang yawned from a pile of blankets on Appa’s head. His arm poked out from the blankets to pat Appa. “Good morning, Appa. Good morning, Zuko.”

“Um...” Zuko whispered. “Back at you?”

Aang tucked his arm under the blankets and promptly fell back asleep. The lemur, Momo, jumped down towards Zuko and he had to stick his arms out to catch him. Momo cuddled up against Zuko’s chest and started purring.

Appa looked pretty sleepy, but Zuko knew he would be hungry right when he fully woke up. Zuko hadn’t brought Appa’s good-morning-cabbages with him, so he carefully held Momo in one arm so he could dig through the groceries shoved in the corner. All he found was a massive bag of rice and ten packs of egg custard tarts.

Zuko frowned down at the groceries. It wasn’t much better than the food situation had been at the Freedom Fighter’s old apartment before the first time his uncle had visited; their food cupboard had been full of nothing but ramen noodles, soy sauce, and jellied candy. Zuko hadn’t seen anything wrong with the noodles, and neither had any of the kids staying with the Freedom Fighters, but Iroh had gone to the market with all the mini Freedom Fighters in tow and had come back with so much food an entire corner of the small apartment had to be turned into food storage. The next day, Iroh had rented a huge apartment in the building where Jin and her family lived, insisted it was his job as an honorary uncle to make sure they were well taken care of, and told them all to take the day off to get their stuff moved over. Jin’s grandmother had been delighted to meet all the kids and had started teaching them knitting and arithmetic.

Zuko looked out into the backyard; he saw a small vegetable garden and an apple tree. He opened the back door, careful not to make a sound or let the sliver of sunlight shine in Appa’s eyes, and slipped out, Momo still curled up in the crook of his arm. Zuko grabbed several apples off the tree for Appa, then paused in front of the vegetable garden. He recognized enough vegetables that he could probably make a decent broth out of them and maybe try to make some of his uncle’s jook for breakfast. He was grateful Aang had allowed him to spend time with Appa and wanted to stay on his good side (and he was a bit worried about what the kid and all his friends had been eating, given their grocery pile). Zuko gathered up some vegetables and headed back inside.

Making the broth didn’t take too long - Zuko just rinsed off the vegetables, put some water in a pot, and tossed in the clean vegetables. While the broth was boiling, he gave the apples to a half-asleep Appa and looked in the mostly-empty cupboards, where he discovered a bottle of hot sauce covered in a thick layer of dust. Zuko fished out the vegetables with a spoon and then dumped in several handfuls of rice and half the bottle of hot sauce. Momo sat on the counter beside the pot, watching as Zuko stirred the jook with a long spoon. It was taking way longer than Zuko had expected, so he used his bending to make the flames burn hotter. The jook turned a reddish-brown from all the hot sauce and there were charred bits spread throughout and it _definitely_ didn’t look like his uncle’s had. Zuko wondered if maybe he should stick to making ramen in the future. He tried a small bite - it tasted like crunchy fire flake-flavored porridge - and instead started wondering if he should write down his recipe to make again.

Zuko’s good ear was facing towards the bedroom doors, so he heard the creak of a floorboard as soon as someone stumbled out of bed. Within moments, he had shoved the stirring spoon into Momo’s small hands, patted Appa, and bundled up his blanket (inside out, so the turtle ducks on it were out of view). Zuko dove out the window and landed silently right as a bedroom door creaked open. He hesitated just out of view, unsure if the person who had woken up would glance through the parted curtain and see his retreating form.

A loud, dramatic gasp cut through the quiet morning air. Zuko heard pounding footsteps, then the sound of a door being thrown open. “Wake up!” insisted Aang’s boomerang-wielding friend.

Zuko winced: had he been discovered? He tensed, ready to take off in a sprint as soon as he knew what the Water Tribe boy was telling his friends.

Rather than announcing Zuko’s presence, he proclaimed: “Momo made us breakfast!”

“Sokka, you have the craziest dreams,” the waterbender said sleepily.

“Tell Momo thank you,” yawned a voice Zuko didn’t recognize.

A second unfamiliar voice just grunted and threw something towards the Water Tribe boy - Sokka, Zuko knew now. Whatever had been thrown hit the door frame with a thud.

Zuko stifled an incredulous laugh and slipped away from the house before the rest of Aang’s friends got up.

* * *

Zuko had just finished making a second version of his crispy, spicy jook when his uncle finally got out of bed and appeared in the kitchen.

“We may wake with the sun, but there’s no reason we can’t take a nice nap right after!” Iroh said cheerily, still dressed in his sleeping clothes. He looked at Zuko’s creation and raised an eyebrow.

“I call it fire flake jook,” said Zuko. He grabbed a bowl, filled it to the brim, and handed it to his uncle. “Do you like it, Uncle?”

Iroh took a large bite. Zuko turned away to get his own bowl.

“Good!” Iroh said loudly. “Quite bracing, Prince Zuko. You are certainly a...creative cook.”

When Zuko turned back around, Iroh’s bowl was empty and the window behind him had been opened. He grinned at his uncle. “I just boiled some vegetables in water, added some rice and half a bottle of hot sauce, and made the cooking flame as hot as possible. The whole recipe only takes about five minutes. Do you want seconds?”

“No!” blurted Iroh. “I, uh. I need some time to ruminate on the unique choices of the dish. Perhaps another day!”

Zuko shrugged. He sat down at the table and dug into his own bowl of fire flake jook.

Momo came flying through the open window and landed in front of Zuko. The lemur had fire flake jook smeared around his mouth. He tried to reach for Zuko’s jook, but Zuko grabbed a mango out of the fruit bowl on the table and stuck it in the lemur’s hand. Momo’s desperate reaching came to a reluctant pause as he chomped on the mango. The next fruit Zuko handed him was a moon peach and, thank Agni, the lemur liked it so much he stopped side-eying the fire flake jook. Zuko quickly finished his jook and washed his bowl before Momo could lick it clean. Zuko begrudgingly told his uncle that he might not be able to make fire flake jook again anytime soon if Momo would go so crazy over it.

“Sometimes the best things in life are only experienced once,” said Iroh, sagely.

* * *

When Zuko arrived for his shift at the Jasmine Dragon, Appa was outside, dressed in his greeter uniform and happily watching over the turtle ducks. Zuko couldn’t help the grin that spread across his face when he saw the bison, even though he had just seen him that morning. He gave him a quick hug and ducked to avoid Appa’s tongue, leaving Momo to get the brunt of the lick from his spot on Zuko’s head. The lemur chittered and jumped on top of Appa. He curled up on the bison’s head for a nap.

“So I was thinking we could practice during our lunch break,” Aang piped up from behind Zuko. Zuko whirled around - the boy was dressed in a Jasmine Dragon greeter uniform to match Appa’s. Zuko could barely suppress his groan. How had his uncle hired him so fast? “The others don’t know you’re here yet. I wasn’t sure if you wanted them to know or not so I thought if you taught me during lunch, then I could practice at night and just say I found an old firebending scroll or somethi-”

Zuko clapped a hand over Aang’s mouth,. He scanned the area around them carefully. The only person in earshot was Jin. The girl winked at Zuko and made a motion of zipping her lips shut and throwing away the key. Zuko shot her a grateful smile and dragged Aang behind the Jasmine Dragon, Appa lumbering along behind them.

“You can’t talk about firebending out in the open like that,” Zuko hissed. “The guards are pretty useless, but if they found out Uncle and I are from the Fire Nation, Uncle would lose his tea shop and we’d probably both be arrested and executed.”

Aang’s eyes were wide. “I thought the Earth Kingdom people were the good guys.”

“It’s way more complicated than that,” said Zuko. He took a deep breath and hesitated for a moment, searching for the words to explain. “The Fire Nation laid siege to the walls of Ba Sing Se for six hundred days when I was younger, and my cousin, Lu Ten, was killed by earthbenders during the siege. The Earth Kingdom Army crushes firebenders’ hands to stop them from bending, but there are hundreds of refugees trying to come to Ba Sing Se every day because of Fire Nation attacks so you can kind of see why. There are Fire Nation generals who are willing to sacrifice their own new recruits to win battles and there are Earth Kingdom soldiers who steal food from the towns they’re supposed to protect and there are regular people just trying to live their lives in every nation. The lines between what’s good and what’s bad aren’t black and white in this war. But the Fire Nation has been attacking the Earth Kingdom for a century, so of course they don’t want anyone from the Fire Nation in their city.”

“I’m sorry about your cousin,” Aang said quietly.

Zuko had never known what to say to people at home when they had said they were sorry about Lu Ten’s death and he didn’t know what to say now. He swallowed a lump in his throat and ended up shrugging awkwardly.

Aang, who was pretty perceptive for a twelve-year-old, changed the subject back to bending. “So we’ve got to find a place to practice fi-I mean, to practice our bending where no one will see us.” He stuck his tongue out between his teeth in concentration. “I have an idea! I’ll see you in a couple hours!”

Zuko reached out to grab Aang’s shoulder, stopping him from running off. “One, aren’t you working here now? You’ve got to find someone to cover your shift before you run off. Two, I haven’t even agreed to teach you yet.”

Aang turned to Zuko with koala-puppy-dog eyes. Zuko stared straight at him, determined to hold strong, but the poor kid looked so excited and hopeful and-

“Fine,” Zuko caved before he could help himself. “I’ll show you a few moves. And I’ll cover for you today.”

“Thank you, Sifu Hotman!”

“And don’t call me that!” Zuko shouted after the boy, but he was already gone.

* * *

Aang’s idea of a secret place to practice was his house, with all the furniture pushed to the sides of the main room and the curtains drawn. Appa and Momo were in the garden, away from any fire danger. One of the curtains was slightly parted and Zuko could see Appa trying to peer inside through the tiny opening.

Zuko raised his eyebrow at Aang. “You don’t think your friends will be suspicious of scorch marks on the floor?” 

“I’ll just tell them I’m practicing on my own!” said Aang. “They know I’m bad with fire. I-” Aang hesitated, his eyes on the ground. “I really hurt Katara the first time I tried it. I’ve been scared to do it again ever since. But I thought you’d probably understand how to be careful training since, er-”

Aang eyed Zuko’s scar. Zuko resisted the urge to touch it, stubbornly keeping his hands glued to his sides.

“It wasn’t an accident,” Zuko said shortly.

“Oh,” said Aang, wide-eyed and obviously curious. Thankfully, he didn’t push for answers.

“Look, I know you’re nervous. I get it. I was nervous around fire for ages after I saw how bad my scar was; that was the first time I realized just how much damage fire could do. I spent nearly three years relearning the basics before I was ready to start learning the advanced forms and I’m still not a master firebender. But you don’t need to fear firebending itself; you just need to respect it. If you don’t, it’ll turn on you like an angry komodo rhino. But once you respect fire, it’ll respect you back and you can use it without accidentally hurting the people around you. And if you get scared, just tell me and I’ll put out your flames. You ready?”

“I’m ready,” Aang said, determined.

“Watch this move. It’s pretty basic so it should be a good start.”

Zuko punched the air. A small flame flashed for a moment, then puttered out into a cloud of wispy smoke. He tried again, then again, and then attempted several other moves, all with the same result.

“I think that last one was a bit hotter than the others!” Aang called out encouragingly.

Zuko glared at him. “You know it’s supposed to be better than that.”

“Maybe you’re just out of practice,” Aang suggested. “You’ve been living in Ba Sing Se for a while now and you probably haven’t had a chance to firebend much since you’re undercover.”

“I’m not undercover, I’m in hiding,” Zuko corrected him absentmindedly. How long had his firebending been screwed up? It had been fine when he had fought off the Earth Kingdom army bullies who had tried to conscript Lee, and he hadn’t noticed it being any worse than usual when he had fought Aang in the deserted town and then fended off Azula with his uncle and Aang and the kid’s friends. But his small flame had sputtered when he had shown it to the little firebender girl at the zoo. He had thought that had just been his firebending being temperamental as always, not a sign that it was totally broken. Maybe he just needed the right motivation. “It’ll probably be better if you start throwing things at me and I deflect them with fire. Then I’ll have to work on instinct.”

A pillow came flying at Zuko before he had even finished talking. He called up a flame to knock it off course, but all that appeared was a tea candle sized flame and a bit of smoke. The pillow hit Zuko smack-dab in the middle of his face. It fell to the floor, barely even singed.

* * *

“Bad news Uncle: I’ve lost my stuff,” Zuko announced as he opened the apartment door. Momo was perched on Zuko’s shoulder; the lemur had slept on Appa’s head for the short walk from Aang’s house to the apartment, but had decided to take the stairs with Zuko and Aang rather than coming through the window.

Zuko pulled to a stop in the doorway. Aang, who had been following Zuko in, ran into Zuko’s back. Momo was jolted forward by the sudden movement and, with a deafening screech, went flying into the arms of the small earthbending girl Zuko had first seen when they had all faced off against Azula in the deserted town.

“Toph?” gasped Aang, recovering quickly from the collision and standing on his tip-toes to peer over Zuko’s shoulder.

“Aang?” asked Toph, sounding genuinely surprised.

“Uncle?” Zuko said, echoing Toph’s tone.

“Nephew!” Iroh chimed in, like he just wanted to be included in the name-exclaiming.

“What are you doing with the Avatar’s friend?”

“I have a name,” Aang complained.

“Yeah, okay, Aang,” Zuko said distractedly, still staring quizzically at his uncle and the small earthbending girl.

“Toph and I go way back!” Iroh smiled.

“But… _why_?”

“I’ve got to complain about you blockheads with somebody,” Toph told Aang. Aang shrugged as if to say _fair enough_.

Iroh smiled heartily at Zuko. “And who better to discuss the mysteries of my nephew’s teenage brain than with a level-headed and rock-steady young person?”

“Rock-steady? I see what you did there!” Toph grinned in Iroh’s direction.

Zuko gaped at him. “You’re talking about me to a _ten-year-old_?”

“I’m _twelve_ ,” Toph grumbled, crossing her arms.

“She’s quite wise for her age, and she’s truly adept at talking through her feelings and setting herself on the path for self-improvement. She picked up the skill rather quickly - after only one shared cup of tea! Why, it took three years of tea and a sky bison friend for you to grow as wise!”

“How could you say that?” Zuko squawked.

Just then, Appa came barreling in through the window, knocking Zuko over and resting his head on him.

Aang and Toph both giggled and Iroh suppressed a smile. Zuko turned red, but he couldn’t get upset at Appa for being a good boy, so he just wiggled out from under him and patted him several times.

“Zuko’s been taking care of Appa for a month!” Aang eagerly informed Toph. “He got him a fuzzy blanket and they like to cuddle and Appa loves him!”

Toph snorted. “Does Sugar Queen know about this yet? Or Snoozles?”

Aang awkwardly reached behind his head to scratch at the back of his neck. “Not...exactly? I just told them an old friend had found Appa. Katara got all teary-eyed and assumed I meant a friend from before I got frozen for a hundred years, but I really just meant ‘old friend’ as in a friend I’d had for a week, if you added three days and then rounded up.”

Toph started laughing even harder than she had when Appa had landed on Zuko. “I’m not going to say anything to them because their reactions will be priceless. But I’ve got to know; who would win in a fight: Zuko and Appa or Katara and Sokka?”

“Well,” said Aang, “when we first met, Zuko roundhouse kicked Sokka off the ramp of his ship and blocked his club and his spear without even using firebending. But then Sokka nearly knocked Zuko out with his boomerang-”

“That was one time!” interjected Zuko.

“-so I guess they’re pretty evenly matched. And with Katara and Zuko, it depends on whether it’s day or night. During the day, they’re even, but if the moon is full and we’re standing in the middle of a snowstorm in the North Pole, Katara can knock Zuko out in three seconds flat.”

“Why do I get the feeling you speak from experience?” asked Toph.

Iroh threw Zuko a look that said _that’s not how you told the story_. Zuko flushed and quickly said, “Appa would win a fight against any of us.” 

“You really do love Appa, huh?” Toph said to Zuko. She turned in the direction of Aang’s voice. “So you’re telling me all you had to do to get him to stop chasing you was send Appa to cuddle his evil away?”

“He was never _evil_ ,” Aang defended Zuko. “He broke me out of prison when some other Fire Nation guy captured me and he found Katara’s necklace after she lost it while she was in prison! Although he _did_ tie Katara to a tree and try to get her to give me up in exchange for her necklace. And then he used her necklace to track us down while we were at a nunnery. But he made us breakfast this morning-“

“That was _you_?” Toph said accusingly. 

“-and he said he’d be my firebending master!”

“I said I’d teach you a few moves,” corrected Zuko. He risked a glance at his uncle, unsure if he would be upset about Zuko helping the Avatar, but he couldn’t tell from his expression. Maybe he didn’t mind Zuko doing a bit of secondhand treason since he was only helping the Avatar in an indirect helping-out-a-friend way, not a direct overthrow-the-Fire-Nation-government way.

“Back up, Twinkle Toes,” Toph said gleefully. “Sugar Queen went to _prison_?”

“Don’t worry,” chirped Aang. “She got arrested on purpose.”

Toph rubbed her hands together. “I have so many questions. Did she shank anyone? Did she join a prison gang? Did she get a tattoo?”

“I don’t think she did any of that, but she _did_ start a prison riot and they overthrew the warden and all the prisoners freed themselves.”

Zuko hadn’t thought Toph’s grin could get bigger, but it did.

“It seems you all have much to talk about!” Iroh smiled jovially at them. He slipped his apron over his head and walked towards the door. “Nephew, Avatar Aang, you can have the rest of the day off from work. And Toph, I look forward to the next time we have tea together!”

“See you later, Zuko’s Uncle!” Aang waved.

Zuko said goodbye to his uncle, then belatedly remembered why he had brought Aang to meet his uncle in the first place. “Uncle, wait-” he called after him, but he was already out of earshot.

* * *

With the day off and two twelve-year-olds to entertain, Zuko brought Aang, Toph, Appa, and Momo down to the large plot of land in the Agricultural Ring that Kenji had purchased for the zoo a few days before. The guards at the Inner Wall recognized Zuko and Appa and waved them on through.

“We’re planning on hiring a few earthbenders to come out and do some work on the land,” said Zuko as they walked around the site. “They can make stone fences for the animals and platforms for the zebra goats to climb on and all that sort of stuff. It’ll probably take about a week of work for half a dozen earthbenders, so we’re going to try to get started on that tomorrow. My friend carved a scale model out of stone - he doesn’t talk much but he’s amazing at making stuff like that.”

“Well, I’ve got good news for you, Sparky,” grinned Toph, cracking her knuckles. “You don’t need to hire some lily-livered earthbenders when you’ve got the greatest earthbender in the world and her apprentice right here. Come on, Twinkle Toes. Let’s make some animals happy.”

Toph recreated a full-sized version of Longshot’s model within an hour. Zuko watched in fascination as she planted her feet and lifted long rows of rock straight up from the ground. Aang, who had apparently had some trouble earthbending in the past, according to Toph, was amazing at it when he was motivated by animals. He created perfectly customized habitats for each of the animal enclosures without even breaking a sweat.

“Can we go see the old zoo now, Zu-I mean, Lee?” Aang asked. “Pretty please? I’m _great_ with animals!”

* * *

“I gotta hand it to you, Twinkle Toes,” Toph proclaimed, surveying their work and all the people and animals wandering through the new zoo. “You sure know how to draw a crowd.”

Aang had used his airbending to open all the enclosures before Zuko and Kenji could stop him and now there were more animals in the new zoo than there had been in the old one. Aang had pulled Momo away from a fistfight with a hog monkey over a lychee nut, Appa had fallen asleep next to the platypus bear, Kenji had rescued several pets from the elephant mandrill enclosure, and Zuko was pretty sure an entire colony of feral pygmy pumas had moved in with the tigerdillo. One of the pygmy pumas jumped up into Zuko’s arms and he recognized her as Jin’s neighbor’s mostly-domesticated pygmy puma.

“How’d you get out here, Noodle?” Zuko asked the pygmy puma. She just purred in response. Momo shot Noodle a dirty look from Aang’s shoulder. Noodle just kept purring and Momo cautiously jumped over to Zuko’s shoulder to stare down at her. After several curious blinks, Momo cuddled up on top of Noodle and fell asleep.

* * *

“I can’t go to the original firebenders,” Zuko told Toph after she told him about her experience learning from badgermoles. They had dropped Noodle off at Jin’s house and then returned to Zuko and Iroh’s apartment to wait for Iroh to get home. “The dragons are extinct.”

“But...but Roku had a dragon,” Aang said in a small voice. He reached out to pet Appa, as if to reassure himself the bison was still alive and well. “And my friend Kuzon and I saw a dragon when we rescued an egg. The dragons were amazing. How could they all be gone?”

“My great-grandfather told people to kill all the dragons and my uncle finished the job,” Zuko said bluntly. “He wasn’t always the kind old tea shop owner he is now. He’s called the Dragon of the West because he killed the last dragon decades ago, way before I was born, and he conquered most of the western Earth Kingdom.”

“I thought your uncle was...I don’t know, good?” Aang said.

“He just wants a peaceful life away from the war,” said Zuko, dodging the question. He didn’t want to think about the bad things his uncle had done in the past; didn’t want to know how many lives Iroh had destroyed on behalf of the Fire Nation. “But even though the dragons are extinct, maybe we can learn from the Sun Warrior temple. They were the first people to learn from the dragons, so they could have left some scrolls or stone tablets or something.”

“Field trip time!” Aang hollered, jumping so high in the air that he must have been using bending.

“I don’t know,” Zuko hesitated. “I mean, my uncle was the one who killed the last dragon. Will he be upset that we want to go learn their style of firebending? And what will your friends say when they don’t see you for a few days?”

“Don’t even worry about all that. I’ll make excuses for you both - I’m an expert,” volunteered Toph. 

“What about work?”

“I can do that too. How hard can taking tea orders be?”

_Very hard_ , Zuko thought, but decided to keep that to himself. Nothing he might say could possibly prepare her for working in customer service. Compared to dealing with the lychee-tea-with-the-lychee-nuts-on-the-side customer tomorrow, searching through ruins would be a walk in the park.


	7. Interlude: Toph vs Customers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Toph covers for Zuko, Aang, and Appa at the Jasmine Dragon.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Election day is stressful here in the United States. Here’s an interlude of Toph working at the Jasmine Dragon. Enjoy!!!

“Don’t worry about a thing,” Toph told Zuko and Aang. She was laying across the couch in Zuko’s apartment, tossing lychee nuts in the air and catching them in her mouth. Momo jumped up and tucked himself into Toph’s side. Momo was purring and Toph was pretty sure he was giving her big, pleading eyes, so she gave him a lychee nut. “You two just enjoy your little field trip.”

“Tell my uncle I’ve got something going on down in the Lower Ring and I’m crashing at Jet’s place for a few days,” said Zuko. Toph could hear him packing way more food than necessary in a bag.

“I met someone named Jet a few months ago!” said Aang. “What a coincidence!”

Zuko’s food-packing came to a fast stop. “Coincidence. Yeah. Two totally different people with the same name. That’s crazy.”

“And I guess you can tell Sokka and Katara and Suki I’m on an Air Nomad meditation trip with Appa?” Aang suggested.

“Those are both perfectly reasonable excuses,” said Toph, already dreaming up what she was _actually_ going to tell people they were doing.

Toph heard Zuko pick up what sounded like a blanket. He swished it once, then his footsteps retreated, like he was trying to hide it from Toph. Toph sat up, swooping Momo onto her lap and planting her feet against the floor, but the floor was wood and she couldn’t tell whether Zuko was actually hiding it or just walking away.

“You don’t need to worry about Toph seeing your blanket, Zuko,” Aang said brightly. “She can’t see.”

So he _was_ hiding something. Toph knew Zuko had to be glaring at Aang. She smirked.

“Well, now I want to know what’s up with this blanket. And I’m blind, so you’re legally required to tell me.”

“I, uh…”

“Come on, Sparky. You’ve _gotta_ tell me,” grinned Toph. “I’m blind and I need to know, don’t be disrespectful to a poor blind kid.”

The floor was still rudely made of wood, so Toph couldn’t feel Zuko’s heart rate spike through the ground, but it was pounding so loud she could hear it from across the room. He took a step back and thudded against Appa.

“It has turtle ducks on it,” Zuko blurted out. “There’s a mix of turtle ducks and turtle ducklings and some have green shells and some have brown shells and it’s a really soft blanket.”

Toph wanted to laugh, but Zuko’s still-racing heart and thicker-than-usual lisp made her hold back her snort. “Sounds cute, Sparky,” she said instead. “Now I want a blanket with badgermoles on it.”

“I’ll get you one next time I go to the market,” promised Zuko.

He sounded less like a cornered mouse-rabbit. Toph grinned - mission accomplished.

“Can I get a blanket too, Zuko?” Aang asked. “Maybe I can get one in Air Nomad colors! Or with sky bison on it!”

“Yeah, sure thing, buddy,” said Zuko. “We should get going before my uncle gets home. Are you sure you’re okay covering for us, Toph?”

“I beat up full-grown earthbenders at the Earth Rumble in my spare time,” boasted Toph. “Serving tea will be a breeze.”

“I think you’ll do great, Toph!” said Aang, who had never actually worked in customer service, excluding the ten minutes between Iroh hiring Aang and Aang running off during his shift.

“I’ll be the best tea server the Jasmine Dragon has ever had,” declared Toph. “If Mr. Grumpy Pants over there can do it, anyone can.”

* * *

As soon as Aang, Appa, and Zuko left, Toph stopped by the house where she and the others were staying. Sokka, Katara, and Suki were probably out getting dinner, because the house was empty. Momo jumped off Toph’s shoulder and came back with a sheet of paper and paintbrush from Sokka’s art supplies.

“You want me to write a note?” Toph asked Momo.

Momo chittered at her.

“I can’t write, Momo. I’m blind, remember? You need to write the note.”

Momo set the paper down on the counter and insistently shoved the brush in Toph’s hand. Toph gave up on fighting Momo. She tried to draw what she imagined Aang and Appa looked like. It took the better part of ten minutes and she got way too much ink on the counter, but by the end, she thought she might have done a half-decent job. Momo checked her work and chirped his approval.

Toph yawned. “I guess we should go tell Uncle about Zuko and Aang leaving for a few days. Maybe we can spend the night over there and sleep in for once. What do you think?”

Momo purred. Toph took that as a yes.

Toph heard a key turn in the lock twenty minutes after she got back to the apartment. Iroh’s heavy footsteps trodded inside and he tossed his keys on the counter. The room grew a bit warmer - he must have lit the lamps - and he startled when he noticed Toph half-asleep on the couch.

“Hi, Uncle,” Toph yawned. Momo chirped a hello from under the blanket. “Zuko, Aang, and Appa are going to be gone for a few days, so Momo and I are gonna crash here and get some peace and quiet.”

“You are welcome to stay,” said Iroh, slowly. “But I am surprised my nephew did not tell me he was leaving with the Avatar.”

Toph frowned. “You think Zuko’s kidnapping Aang.”

She sat up, making sure to keep Momo tucked under the blanket in her lap. She hadn’t really thought about that; Zuko had seemed pretty sincere, so she didn’t _think_ he would fly Appa straight to the Fire Nation capital. But she hadn’t checked if he was lying since the floor was made of wood. There was no way she was going to admit that, so she would just keep covering for them and hope her gut instinct about Zuko being a good person who loved sky bison was right.

“I must admit, the thought crossed my mind,” said Iroh.

“I’ve got good news for you,” blustered Toph with confidence she didn’t fully have. “There’s no kidnapping masterplan.”

“My nephew is not one for making plans, let alone a master at them.”

“Well, there’s no kidnapping going on at all,” Toph assured Iroh while trying to decide on the best excuse. “They went to the Four Nations Tea Convention. Once a year, tea enthusiasts from all around the world come together in peace to share their recipes. It’s the first time in a hundred years they’ll have an Air Nomad there and everyone is pretty excited to hear about long-forgotten teas. Zuko said his tea is as bad as his cooking and the only way to regain his honor is to find the best tea recipe in the world and bring it back to you.”

“I have never heard of such a wonderful event!” Iroh clapped his hands together. “I am so lucky to have such a kind and supportive nephew - though I wish I had been invited! Still, I am sure he will bring back the best tea recipe of the Four Nations for our shop!”

Toph hoped Zuko and Aang found some good Sun Warrior tea recipes while they were figuring out how the dragons firebended, because she definitely didn’t think that excuse through.

* * *

Toph had only been on the clock for two hours and she was already fed up.

“Why did _he_ get free tea?” asked the customer in front of Toph, pointing at a man sitting nearby.

Uncle was sitting across from the man and Toph could hear the pair chatting about the weather. Based on how much the man’s hands trembled as he picked up his teacup, Toph guessed something must have happened to his arms.

“Just because he’s got burned arms doesn’t mean he should get free tea. That’s not fair to the rest of us paying customers.”

“Look,” said Toph. “I don’t know what to tell you about him, but you drank a green tea and you need to pay for a green tea. You knew the price when you ordered.”

“But that’s not fair,” insisted the customer. “That was before I knew some people got free tea.”

“It costs five coppers for a green tea. You got two refills for free already. Just pay up and move out so someone else can take your table.”

“No. This is outrageous. It’s unfair. I want to speak to the-”

Uncle appeared beside Toph. “Is everything alright here?” he asked kindly.

“No, it’s not,” said the customer. “That man over there got free tea and it’s completely unfair that the rest of us still have to pay.”

“Ah,” said Uncle. “Do you mind if we sit?”

Uncle pulled out a chair for Toph and himself before the customer could protest. Toph sat down heavily and crossed her arms.

“I understand the confusion and frustration,” said Uncle. “It is never pleasant to feel as though you have been cheated. But I assure you, our prices are fair and you are not being denied any special treatment given to others. Rather, the man who got free tea bravely served at the Outer Wall during the Siege of Ba Sing Se. He spent three hundred and ninety-eight days fighting for the Earth Kingdom before he was caught in a firebender’s blast and honorably discharged from service. I know it is impolite to speak of such things in the city, and I will not be so rude as to go on. But know that many of us in the city are glad to be free from the war within its walls. We owe such freedoms to soldiers like that man. I am sure you understand why one who made such a sacrifice gets free tea.”

With a mumbled apology, the customer set ten coppers on the table and stood to leave. “His next tea is on me,” the customer said, then fled the Jasmine Dragon.

“Such a kind customer,” said Iroh.

* * *

“Should you really have animals in a restaurant?” a woman said snidely as Toph walked by, Momo on her shoulder. “The bison outside was one thing, but rodents?”

Toph whirled on the woman. “He’s my seeing-eye lemur. And he’s a primate, not a rodent. If you’re going to insult Momo, do it properly.”

The woman tsked. She turned to two women sitting at a table near her. “This establishment has a strange disposition for faulty workers. First the boy with that hideous scar, then the boy who refuses to talk, and now a blind girl? How can she possibly keep up?”

Toph clenched her fists. She thought about her parents calling her _tiny_ and _helpless_ and _fragile_. She thought about how they refused to listen when she told them she wasn’t any of those things. The ground shook beneath her feet. She opened her mouth to give the rude woman a piece of her mind.

“Is everything okay here?” Jin cut in before Toph started talking, apparently sensing just how close she was to snapping.

“I’d like a capable server sent to my table,” said the woman.

“Oh!” said Jin. “Well, Toph here is one of our best! This is her first day, but she’s doing a great job. She has our menu memorized already!”

“It’s hardly appropriate for a _blind girl_ to be handling hot tea. What if she burns herself?”

“I’m standing right here,” Toph fumed.

“I’m doing this for your own good, my dear.”

Toph couldn’t decide if she wanted to scream or cry or just go chuck rocks around for hours.

“Toph is an amazing employee. She’s fully capable of working here and we’re lucky to have her on the team.”

“Hmph. I’d like to speak with the manager of this establishment.”

“I’m afraid our manager is out for lunch right now, but I’m an assistant manager. Now, is there anything else I can help you with?”

“As I already said, I want a capable waiter sent to my table.”

“You haven’t even told me your order yet!” Toph erupted. “I’m just as good as anyone who can see. You look at me and think I’m some helpless little blind girl, but I’m not. I can do anything you can do and I can take your stupid order and bring you your stupid tea but you won’t even give me a chance.”

The woman harrumphed. “Fine. I’ll take an oolong chai tea with hummingbird-bee honey. Make it iced - I don’t want you to hurt yourself with hot tea.”

“Great,” Toph said, still simmering. “I’ll be back.”

Smellerbee and Longshot were in the kitchen. Toph told Longshot the tea order and he got to work on it.

“Don’t worry about the crazy stuff the customers say,” said Smellerbee. “People think I’m a boy at least twice a week and some people will spend ten minutes trying to make Longshot talk when he’s just trying to get their order.”

Longshot set a hand on Toph’s shoulder. She couldn’t see Longshot and he rarely talked, but somehow, Toph knew what he was telling her.

“You’re right, Longshot,” said Toph. She squared her shoulders. “I know what I’m capable of and it doesn’t matter what anyone else thinks. I just...I just wish other people didn’t think I was weak. It reminds me of my parents. I wish they would accept me for who I am. I don’t know what’s going to happen with the war. I might never see them again. They must be so worried about me.”

Longshot finished the tea. Toph nodded in his direction. She brought the tea out to the woman, who seemed surprised that Toph had gotten her order correct and had brought it back to the right table.

“Enjoy your tea,” Toph snapped. She didn’t slam down the teacup even though she wanted to; Uncle wouldn’t his cups being broken for no good reason.

“Wait - young lady,” said the woman. “Perhaps I was too harsh earlier.”

“You think?”

“My daughter is partially blind. She can make out shapes, but only with very strong glasses, and she’ll never be able to read or write or live a normal life. I suppose I saw you, out here on your own and still so young, and saw her in you. She’s so helpless and I worry about her.”

“No one wants to be called helpless,” Toph told the woman. “Blind people can’t do everything the same way seeing people can, but we can still have normal lives. My parents hid me away from the world and didn’t even tell anyone they had a daughter because they were so worried about me. I left because they tried to keep me locked up. But there are ways you can help your daughter without calling her helpless and saying people who are different are faulty. We’re not faulty. We’re just different. I can use my earthbending to figure out what’s around me. I don’t know if your kid can bend or not, but if you support her, she can figure out how to live a life that works for her.”

“Thank you,” said the woman sincerely. “And I’m sorry for how I treated you earlier. I hope your parents realize how special their daughter is.”

Toph swallowed hard. “Yeah. I hope you like your tea.”

* * *

“I’d like a jasmine tea and three cabbage cookies, please.”

“I can get you the jasmine tea, but we don’t serve cabbage cookies here.”

“Oh, they’re from a stall down in the Lower Ring. They cost three coppers apiece. I’ll just give you the money and you can run down to fetch them. When you come back, I’ll eat them with my tea.”

“Um,” began Toph. Was the woman being serious? “It takes a long time to walk down to the Lower Ring and back.”

“I don’t mind waiting.”

“How about I just get you the jasmine tea and you can go get cabbage cookies yourself after you’re done here?”

The customer frowned. “My usual server always gets the cookies.”

“Let me guess,” said Toph. “Awkward teenager with a big fluffy bison following him around?”

The customer nodded.

Toph sighed. “Do you at least tip him for going all the way down to the Lower Ring for you?”

“Why would I do that?”

Toph had to try very, very hard to not smack her palm into her forehead.

“Hey Professor Yu!” said Smellerbee in such a fake-cheerful voice that Toph winced. “Lee is gone for a few days so we’re just serving tea. We’ll be back right back with your tea order!”

Smellerbee led Toph back to the kitchen. Her voice was back to normal. “Lee always puts up with those over-the-top customers. I can’t decide if he’s a pushover for going along with them or a genius because it gets him away from the shop for a while.”

“What happened to your voice just now?” demanded Toph.

“It makes dealing with customers easier. You create a barrier between your true self and your customer service self.”

“That sounds...concerning.”

Smellerbee patted Toph on the shoulder. “Oh, it’ll happen to you too. Just wait.”

With those ominous words, Smellerbee disappeared into the kitchen.

* * *

“What do you want?” Toph asked the customer in front of her. She tapped her foot as he examined the menu.

“Hmm,” he said indecisively. Finally, he said, “I’d like a lychee tea with the lychee nuts on the…” the man trailed off. “Um - you’re not going to write this down?”

Toph waved a hand in front of her eyes.

“Yes, well.” He cleared his throat. “Well, as I was saying, one lychee tea with the lychee nuts on the side.”

“So...you want water in a teacup and lychee nuts in a bowl?”

“No, I believe I was quite clear. Lychee tea with the lychee nuts on the side.”

Toph crossed her arms. “Regular lychee tea with the lychee in the tea and extra lychee nuts on the side?”

“No, not at all. No lychee in the tea, just on the side. Lychee tea with the lychee nuts on the side.”

“Repeating your same insane order isn’t going to make it any better.”

“I want everything in the lychee tea _except_ the lychee nuts.”

“So...milk? Honey? Sugar?”

“Spirits, no! It’s a lychee tea, not some sugary monstrosity!”

“What do you think is in lychee tea?”

“Just take the order, girl,” the man snapped.

Toph was halfway into an earthbending stance when a hand squeezed her shoulder and steered her away from the lychee tea guy.

“I don’t think Mushi wants employees fighting customers inside,” the boy who had intervened drawled. “No matter how much they have it coming.”

“So you’re saying if I get him out back and take off my apron, he’s fair game?”

That drew a startled laugh from the boy. “I’m Jet. You must be new here.”

“Toph. I’m covering for Lee and Aang. And Appa, I guess, since apparently flying bison can work at tea shops.”

Toph could tell Jet was curious. “I was wondering where Lee had gone. Last I saw him, he was moping about Aang picking up Appa. He laid in the turtle duck pond for _hours_ before we staged an intervention.”

“He went to the Fancy Lady Day Spa. But I’m supposed to tell Uncle that Lee’s crashing at your apartment for a few days.”

Jet laughed, then paused. “Wait. Did he actually go to the spa?”

“What do you think?”

“It doesn’t sound like Lee, but-”

“They had a bring-your-pet special so Appa went with him.”

Jet deliberated for a moment. “I can believe that.”

The lychee tea guy loudly cleared his throat from across the room. Toph made a face.

“He comes in all the time,” Jet said. “Just bring him water and lychee nuts first, then he’ll complain. Then bring him green tea with more lychee nuts on the side and he’ll shut up about it.”

“But why wouldn’t he just order green tea?” Toph demanded. “Jin read me the menu and I _know_ green tea is an option.”

Jet shrugged. “It costs two coppers more. But trust me, it’s not worth the argument over two coppers.”

“If he wants green tea, he needs to pay for green tea. And he’s getting lychee nuts without paying for them.”

“Look, I get it. He’s awful. But Mushi doesn’t care and Lee’s argued with that guy three times a week since we opened. Just stick with what I told you.”

“No.” Toph stomped her foot. The stone paver under her cracked in half.

“It’s just two coppers.”

“It’s not about the two coppers. It’s about honesty, about paying fair prices for fair service, about supporting a local business, about equality for all the other customers.” Toph stopped herself. “I sound like Katara.”

Jet’s heart skipped a beat at that. Toph cocked her head. Huh. So Zuko’s Jet and Aang’s Jet were the same person.

“I totally feel you on all that,” said Jet, recovering quickly. “But it really is just two coppers. It’s not worth dealing with him over two coppers.”

“This isn’t about two coppers. This is about _honor_.”

Jet pinched the bridge of his nose. “Now you sound like Lee. Give it a week working in customer service, you’ll grow out of it.”

Toph ignored him. She stomped the paver again, fixing the crack she had created, then marched right up to the lychee tea guy and stuck a finger in the middle of his chest. “You owe me, like, two coppers.”

The lychee tea man jumped to his feet. “You’ll have to kill me for it,” he declared.

“Fine by me,” Toph snapped. She paused. Jet had said Uncle didn’t want employees fighting customers in the middle of the restaurant. She took off her apron and threw it at Smellerbee, who was standing nearby. “Let’s take this out back.”

* * *

“TOPH! TOPH! TOPH! TOPH!”

Jet, Smellerbee, Jin, and several customers were chanting her name. Longshot and Momo were clapping along with the chant. Toph and Lychee Man were circling each other in the alleyway behind the Jasmine Dragon.

“What’s the matter?” Toph taunted. “Afraid to fight a little girl?”

Lychee Man scoffed. “As soon as we’re done here, I’m talking to your manager and getting you fired.”

Jin, who was the manager on duty, stopped chanting, as though she had just remembered that she was supposed to be the responsible one while Uncle was at lunch. A moment later, she shrugged and Toph heard her start chanting again.

Lychee Man threw the first boulder. Toph easily deflected it.

“You call that earthbending?” she laughed. “I’ve seen toddlers do better.”

Lychee Man huffed. He got into an embarrassingly bad stance, did some overly complicated movement with his hands, and lifted a storm of dirt from the cracks in the ground. Toph was actually impressed - until the dirt fell back to the ground two feet off the ground.

“Fix your stance,” Toph told him. She paused her circling to demonstrate the right stance. “You’ve got to be steady and strong. Rock is a stubborn element. If you’re going to move it, you’ve got to be like a rock yourself.”

Lychee Man copied her stance. He tried to pick up the dirt again. This time, it got three feet off the ground before it fell back down.

“You’re way too fancy with those motions,” said Toph. “Earthbending is straightforward. Skip the first half of whatever it is you’re doing with your hands. Watch this.”

Toph lifted the dirt. It filled the air, surrounding everyone in the alleyway. It was so thick she doubted anyone else could see, but that wasn’t a problem for her. Toph pulled up a paver, formed it into a crococat-sized rock, and chucked it at Lychee Man. It knocked him back, but his stance was good, so he didn’t fall down. Toph pushed all the dirt back to the ground.

“Good stance!” Toph told him.

Lychee Man pulled up dozens of pebbles. They rose as high as his head. Toph nodded approvingly - he was a decent earthbender when he had a good teacher.

“This is amazing,” Lychee Man gasped, staring at the pebbles around him. “I’ve never been able to earthbend this well before. Will you teach me?”

Toph crossed her arms. “That depends. Will you pay the two coppers?”

“Absolutely.”

“And stop being rude to employees?”

“Rude? I’ve never been rude,” said Lychee Man.

“You nearly made Lee cry,” Jet called.

“Well - I didn’t mean to do that. He needs to get thicker skin and get better at his job.”

Toph shot a dirty look in his direction; Sokka had acted as her mirror while she practiced menacing expressions and now she was putting her perfected glare to good use.

“I...I suppose maybe I’ve been a _bit_ rude,” he told Toph. “I...apologize.”

“No. None of that ‘I apologize’ malarkey here. You just sound pretentious and not actually sorry at all. Now think about what you did and make a real apology.”

Lychee Man clenched his fists. “I’m sorry for being rude to the servers and for making Lee cry.”

“He didn’t _cry_ ,” Smellerbee defended Zuko. “He just got himself worked up stressing about your insane order.”

“So will you apologize to Lee when he gets back?” Jet asked. “He’s the one who’s had to deal with you for weeks.”

Lychee Man clenched his fists. “Fine.”

“And bring Appa some cabbages?” Smellerbee added.

Lychee Man twitched. Toph knew he was reaching his breaking point. She smirked.

“Yes, I’ll bring the bison cabbages,” he said through gritted teeth. “ _Now_ will you teach me earthbending?”

“I’m a hands-on, learn-by-doing type of teacher,” was all the warning Toph gave Lychee Man before she sent a series of lychee nut-sized rocks at him.

“Toph, what are you doing?” Katara cried from across the alleyway. She ran towards them.

“SCATTER!” Toph yelled at the bystanders. Jet, Smellerbee, and Longshot scrambled inside while Jin held the door open for all the customers to rush back into the tea shop. Jin hesitated, waiting for Toph, but Toph waved her off.

“I was wondering where everyone had gone! I was quite lonely drinking tea all by myself!” Toph heard Uncle say from inside the tea shop before the door slammed closed.

Katara pulled to a stop in front of Toph, panting heavily. She put her hands on her knees to catch her breath.

“Toph-” Katara huffed. “What-” huff “-are-” huff “-you-” huff “doing?”

“Teaching!” Toph said cheerily. “I’m _great_ at it.”

“Why are you dressed in that outfit?”

“Aang and Appa got jobs at this tea shop and I’m covering for them,” said Toph. “I took off my apron before I fought that guy, don’t worry. I’m professional.”

“Where’s Aang? And Appa?” Katara demanded. “Sokka and Suki and I have been searching for you guys for hours. None of you came home last night.”

“I left a note,” said Toph.

“Toph, no offense, but a bunch of scribbles on a piece of paper doesn’t cut it. Sokka could tell it was Aang and Appa, but he thought it was a ransom note, not an all-good note.”

“Relax, Sugar Queen. I ran into some friends and it turned out Aang knew them too. We crashed at their apartment and then Aang, Appa, and Lee - Aang’s old friend - went to the Fancy Lady Day Spa.”

Katara gasped. “Aang went to the spa...without _me_?”

Toph winced. Katara was the one who had told Toph about the Fancy Lady Day Spa - it seemed too mean to pretend Aang had gone and left Katara behind. “I’m just messing with you. They’re _actually_ visiting Appa’s great great great granddaughter out west.”

“Aren’t the sky bison extinct except for Appa?”

“Are they?” Toph asked. That was actually pretty sad. And she was out of excuses. “I didn’t know that. Okay, so you caught me. They’re on an archeology field trip searching for traces of extinct dragons.”

Katara threw up her arms. “Why do I even try to get you to tell the truth?”

“I _am_ telling the truth!”

Toph could feel the weight of the incredulous expression Katara was probably leveling her way.

“This time,” amended Toph. “Look, Twinkles Toes is just fine. He’ll be back in a few days. He told me he was leaving, so it’s not like Zuko kidnapped him or anything. Um, not that Zuko would be in Ba Sing Se. That would be crazy.”

Katara shuddered. “Could you _imagine_?”


	8. Chapter 8

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Aang and Zuko visit Avatar Roku and the dragons!

“Do you actually know where we’re going?” Aang asked.

Zuko looked down at the map spread across Appa’s saddle then leaned over the side so he could squint down at the line of islands in the distance. It was strange to see the Fire Nation again for the first time in over three years - strange and concerning, since he definitely hadn’t meant to take them anywhere near it. He was plenty used to navigating by sea, after three years on a ship, but it was totally different in the sky without a compass or stars - and he hadn’t visited Fire Nation waters in years.

Zuko turned the map upside down, then sideways. He frowned.

“Maybe we should land for a bit,” said Aang. “We can find someone to give us directions.”

“Definitely not,” said Zuko. “Neither of us are supposed to be anywhere near the Fire Nation and we’re way too recognizable.”

“I guess,” sighed Aang. “I wish Sokka was here. He’s great at reading maps.” Aang thought for a moment, then said, “I have an idea!”

Aang waved for Zuko to come take Appa’s reins. Zuko clambered over the edge of the saddle and took Aang’s place. Aang hopped back to the saddle and sat cross-legged in the middle.

“I’m going to ask Yangchen for directions!”

“ _Avatar_ Yangchen? Why? She hasn’t been around in hundreds of years.” Zuko paused. “But I guess you know that.”

“Yeah, but she had a sky bison,” Aang countered.

“But Avatar Kyoshi picked up her dad’s retired sky bison for trips all the time and her wife was from the Fire Nation. And Roku had a dragon and lived in the Fire Nation.”

“Good points,” Aang said, impressed. “I’ll ask all of them!”

Aang closed his eyes. Zuko turned around so he could see Aang better, still holding Appa’s reins. The reins must have tugged a bit, because Appa veered sideways so suddenly Zuko nearly went tumbling off. Zuko quickly took all the pressure off the reins and Appa straightened back out, going a totally different direction.

This had been a terrible idea. Zuko didn’t know how to fly Appa without a cabbage stick; what if he did something wrong and Appa went crashing into the ocean below and Zuko got Appa and Aang killed? What if it happened while Aang was talking to the past Avatars in the spirit world? Did that count as being in the Avatar State? What if Zuko got all the future Avatars killed too?

Just as Zuko was about to ask Aang to abort mission, Aang’s arrows began to glow the way they had when Zuko had grabbed Aang from the spirit oasis in the North Pole and dragged him through a snowstorm.

“Does that count as the Avatar State?” Zuko asked Appa.

Appa bellowed unhelpfully.

Zuko focused very hard on steering. Now that he was paying attention, Appa’s reins really weren’t all that different from a komodo rhino’s. Ahead, Zuko could see a small, abandoned island covered in hardened lava and ash. He gripped Appa’s reins even tighter - crashing into an island would be even worse than crashing into the ocean.

Aang appeared beside Zuko without warning, his arrows no longer glowing. Zuko startled and nearly went tumbling off Appa again, but Aang shot out a hand and grasped Zuko’s sleeve before he fully fell. Aang grabbed Appa’s reins with his other hand and directed Appa to fly right down to the abandoned island.

“Roku wants to see us,” Aang explained.

“ _Us_?”

Zuko couldn’t help the twinge of trepidation. Zuko’s great-grandfather had bragged about killing Avatar Roku; was Roku angry that Aang was spending time with Zuko now? Would he take his revenge on Zuko for Sozin’s actions? Aang didn’t seem like the type of person to do that, but the Avatars were each their own person, so Zuko really didn’t know what Roku would do.

“Um, maybe I should just drop you off,” suggested Zuko. “Appa and I can circle the island and pick you up when you’re done.”

Aang shook his head. “Roku specifically asked for you. And he said I should’ve thought to ask him for directions first since he lived in the Fire Nation and his animal guide was a dragon. But then I did ask him for directions and he didn’t know and neither did Kyoshi or Kuruk or Yangchen. I was gonna go back further and ask more of the past Avatars, but Kyoshi said it was her duty as your grandma to tell me you looked really stressed so I came back.”

“Oh,” said Zuko. He didn’t know what the grandma thing meant - Kyoshi had lived to 230, so maybe she was one of those super old people who treated everyone like grandkids? He awkwardly said, “Tell Kyoshi...thank...you?”

“You’re welcome!” chirped Aang.

The island was just as empty as it had looked from the sky. Appa fell asleep as soon as they landed at the top of the dormant volcano. Aang hopped off Appa and landed gracefully on the ground; Zuko patted Appa, then slid down his leg and went to stand by Aang.

“Roku didn’t really say what to do once we were here,” said Aang. “I guess we can just eat dinner and see what happens?”

Zuko pulled out several egg custard tarts, a loaf of bread, and two pouches full of water. Aang eagerly dug in.

“You’re great at packing food,” Aang told Zuko, stuffing another egg custard tart in his mouth. “Egg custard tarts are the _best_. What else do you have?”

Before Zuko could stop him, Aang overturned the food bag. Half a dozen loaves of bread, ten pouches of water, eight egg custard tarts, a mountain of lychee nuts, several cabbage cookies, and a teapot full of Uncle’s tea that Zuko had glued shut fell out of the bag onto the food already sitting out. The teapot broke immediately, spilling tea all over the food, and the whole pile started rolling towards the edge. It was like watching in slow motion; Zuko tried to reach out and stop it, but the food was moving too fast, and before he could do anything, it all tipped over the edge of the volcano and went careening down the side into the ocean below.

“Sorry, Zuko,” Aang said, still holding the bag upside down and wearing an embarrassed smile. There was a single loaf of bread left; several pieces had been torn off, but most of it was still there and it hadn’t gotten too soggy from the tea.

“It’s fine,” Zuko said shortly. Something uncomfortable twinged in his stomach, like a phantom pain of hunger even though he was full.

Zuko looked down at the loaf of bread. One loaf wasn’t much to go on, but if they each had one slice in the morning and one at night, it would be enough until Appa got some rest and could fly them to pick up more supplies. Water shouldn’t be a problem; Aang could earthbend bowls out of rock and Zuko could boil it with his firebending to get rid of the salt, the way he and his uncle had on the raft after the North Pole. They at least still had the coin pouch Zuko had packed, so as long as they reached an inhabited town they could buy food, and the huge bag of feed Zuko had packed for Appa was still attached to the bison’s saddle. They’d be okay.

Zuko turned to Aang to explain his plan. “We should save the last loaf of brea-”

“Dibs!” called Aang, already blasting past Appa with the loaf of bread in his hand.

Zuko was on his feet in an instant. Aang was fast, and he kept leaping so high in the air Zuko couldn’t even grab his shoes, but finally, Zuko tackled him to the ground and wrestled the bread out of his arms.

“We need to save this,” Zuko said hoarsely, rolling off Aang. His heart was pounding like a drum in his chest, every breath burned cold in his throat, and he felt like none of his ragged breaths were reaching his lungs. The burning faded, but it was replaced with a tight feeling in his throat and his chest that made it hard to breathe. Zuko rolled over so his forehead was pressed into the cool hardened lava. He squeezed the bread hard enough to squish it, reassuring himself it was still there, and clenched his other hand into a fist, his nails leaving crescent moons in his palm.

“Um, Zuko?” Aang asked in a careful, small voice. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah,” Zuko said, his voice strained. “Just give me a minute.”

Zuko forced himself to his feet, put the bread back in the pack, put the pack back on Appa’s saddle, and checked that the bag of feed was still there. Zuko stared inside the feed bag for a long time. There was enough for Appa and them, if it came to that. It was bland and hurt his teeth and it wasn’t filling at all, but it took the edge off and none of them would starve as long as they had it. Finally, he slid back down Appa’s side and sat against the bison with his legs crossed, facing the sun, which was just starting to set. He gestured for Aang to sit next to him.

“I’m gonna teach you how to meditate like a firebender. C’mere, you just face the sun, sit cross-legged, hold a flame in your hands, take deep breaths, and try to put all your focus on the connection between the sun, the flame in your palm, and the flame inside you.”

Zuko and Aang both closed their eyes, tiny flames in their palms. Zuko’s was sputtering even worse than it had been when he’d shown Aang his firebending - with each ragged breath, it dimmed so much it almost went out.

“Y’know, the monks taught me that if something is bothering you, it helps to talk about it.”

“Well, we’re not in Air Temple preschool, okay?” Zuko snapped. He squeezed his eyes shut harder.

Appa snored and his whole body shook. Zuko opened his eyes again and rested his head back against the bison and looked at Aang, who was having even less luck meditating to a flame than Zuko was. He really was just a kid - if Air Temple preschool had existed, Aang had been a student less than ten years ago, for him. It wasn’t fair to lash out at him for trying to talk about the culture he’d lost.

“Sorry, Aang,” Zuko said.

“I forgive you,” Aang said, giving Zuko a crooked smile.

Zuko smiled back. He closed his eyes again. His chest was still all tangled up and he couldn’t stop thinking about how long he’d stared at Appa’s bag of feed while he’d put the pack with bread back in the saddle.

“I just don’t like not having food,” Zuko said slowly.

He thought about the first he’d been so hungry his stomach had felt like it was devouring himself. It was right after he’d been banished with no way to actually leave the city. He’d slept on the streets of Caldera City and no one would help him and he hadn’t thought to bring any food and his eye had gotten infected. He’d slept in an alleyway, hungry and miserable, for three days before he’d swallowed his pride and dug through a dumpster. The food he’d found had been soggy and moldy and he’d thrown it all up again twenty minutes later. The next day, he’d gone up to an imperial guard and yelled at her to send a message to Azula for help.

Three years after that, when he and his uncle had been stuck on a makeshift raft without food or water for three weeks, he’d spent hours every day trying to catch fish with his dagger and hating that he hadn’t packed any backup food in his pockets. Not long later, he’d left his uncle behind and traveled across the Earth Kingdom on his own. That time, he’d brought a pack full of stolen food along with him and left even more food behind with his uncle so his uncle would have enough. But Zuko’s food had run out far faster than he had expected, especially since he’d been sharing with Song’s ostrich horse, and they’d both had to settle for bland feed whenever Zuko couldn’t find work or a kind stranger in towns they crossed.

Finally, Zuko continued, “I’ve been really, really hungry before and I hate it. I hate not having food. And it’s stupid. We just ate dinner. And Appa can get around really fast, so it’s not like we’re stranded. I’m just...I just hate it.”

“I don’t think it’s stupid to worry about that,” said Aang. “I don’t like storms very much. I used to love them - it was so much fun to stand out on the balcony and feel the wind whipping by and see the lightning lighting up the sky. But when I ran away, I got caught in a storm in the South Pole and it was really bad. Appa and I both fell in the water and couldn’t get back out. We almost drowned. We only didn’t because I went into the Avatar State for the first time ever and froze us both in ice. Most storms aren’t as bad as that, but I still get anxious when I’m in a storm and don’t have shelter or an umbrella or anything. It’s been easier, since I talked to Katara about it, but I don’t think I’m ever gonna like storms again.”

“I’m sorry, Aang. That sounds scary.”

“Not having food around sounds scary too.”

The sun was fully setting by the time Zuko and Aang both created semi-steady flames and meditated. As soon as they did, Zuko sensed someone approaching. He opened his eyes again, already reaching for his dual dao, but paused when he saw who was there - the blue-tinted spirit of Avatar Roku was sitting in front of them.

Roku’s dragon, Fang, curled up around Appa, his head right next to Zuko. Zuko had read about the Avatars having animal companions - was Fang Appa’s past life? Did that make Appa part dragon? It would explain Appa’s vicious streak - for a bison, he could hold his own in a fight. Fang didn’t seem interested in anything other than napping, so Zuko tore his eyes away from the massive dragon spirit and looked back at Roku.

“Aang,” said Roku, smiling kindly. “I’m so proud of you. I know this is so much for someone so young to bear, but you’ve already found a waterbending teacher, an earthbending teacher, and now a firebending teacher.”

Roku turned to Zuko. Zuko shrunk under his gaze.

“Zuko, I’m very proud of you as well.”

“You are?” Zuko looked at Aang, who looked just as confused as Zuko felt.

“You have worked hard to recognize the harms of our country and our family.”

Zuko blinked. “Our family?”

“Your great-grandfather on your father’s side, Sozin, was my best friend. We were family to each other, much as how you have found a family in Ba Sing Se. Sozin told me of his plans to spread the Fire Nation’s influence throughout the four nations. I am ashamed to admit I did not stop him. I thought he was all talk; I couldn’t imagine someone I loved so much doing something so horrible. Even after I saw the colonies, I thought he would stop for good after I confronted him, so I spared him. And he did stop, for a long time. Decades later, when my home on this very island was destroyed by a volcano, he saw the smoke and came to help. But at the last second, he decided to leave me to die so he could pursue his plans without my interference. If I hadn’t been so blinded by my love for him, I could have stopped him years before. My mistakes forced you, Aang, to shoulder this burden and led to the genocide of your people. I am so sorry. I was a fool and you paid for it.”

Aang was staring at the ground. Zuko scooted back so he was leaning against Appa, right next to Fang. Fang opened a bleary eye to blink at Zuko, then fell back asleep. Zuko clasped Aang on the shoulder and pulled him back so he was leaning against Appa as well. Aang and Zuko’s shoulders were pressed together and Zuko put an arm around the kid the way he had when Azula was really little and came to Zuko crying. Aang gave Zuko a watery smile, but it didn’t reach his eyes.

“It’s not foolish to believe the best of someone you love,” Aang said quietly. “I don’t know what I’d do if Katara told me she wanted to take over the world. But it’s not foolish to value friendship and love and kindness.”

Zuko’s mouth was dry. “Have you...have you talked to Sozin since he died? Why did he do it? How could he do it? I don’t understand how someone could do something so cruel. How someone could order kids and babies and-”

Aang flinched and Zuko stopped abruptly.

“I’m sorry, buddy,” Zuko said quietly. “I’ll stop, I’m sorry.”

Roku hung his head. “I’m afraid I do not have those answers. Even after all these years, I have not yet brought myself to confront him. But the love of power is a force that consumes all other loves in a life. It festers and corrupts from within. True humility is the only antidote.”

“You sound like Uncle.”

Roku smiled. “Your uncle does love his proverbs. But think, Zuko. Sozin was a good man before power and greed and a fanatical belief that our nation was better than the others overtook the good things in his life. Over the years, power became the only thing he cared about. The pattern has continued - Azulon loved his family in his youth, but grew so hard-hearted as Fire Lord he tried to make your father kill you as punishment for his own disrespect. Your father had both kindness and cruelty within him before he decided to let his cruel side consume him on his quest for power. Your sister, Azula, is being taught by your father to follow that same path - to value power over all else. Even your mother, who is my granddaughter, became someone who laughed at the thought of burning Ba Sing Se to the ground. In order to restore balance to the world, the cycle must end.”

There was so much more Zuko wanted to ask Roku, but his mind was foggy and he suddenly felt so tired he could barely keep his eyes open. Just as the sun fully dipped below the horizon, Roku disappeared. Aang slumped against Zuko’s side, asleep, and a moment later, Zuko’s eyes fell closed as well.

* * *

Zuko woke with the sun. Roku was gone, but Fang was laying right in front of him, pressed flat to the ground. He was nearly invisible in the morning light and Zuko could see the ocean through his transparent blue form. Fang’s eyes wide open and staring, the way Noodle did when she wanted to show someone a leaf she’d captured. Zuko reached out to pat Fang, trying not to jostle Aang too much, but his hand went right through the spirit. Fang grumbled impatiently.

“Hey, Aang,” Zuko whispered.

Aang, who was still slumped against Zuko, woke with a yawn. “What’s up?”

“Can you pet Fang? Since you’re, you know, the bridge between the mortal world and the spirit world? He seems like he wants something but I can’t pet him.”

Aang’s hand went right through Fang too, but he still patted near the top of Fang’s nose.

“Fang wants us to follow him,” Aang said. “C’mon, Zuko!”

They were in the air a minute later, Appa flying next to Fang. Appa seemed to know what he was doing, so Aang and Zuko both sat in the saddle. Zuko tore off two small pieces of bread from the loaf, put the rest back in the empty food pack, and handed a piece to Aang. Aang made a face at the small piece but he didn’t say anything.

* * *

“I can’t move,” Aang said, panicking. “Zuko, do something!”

“Me?” Zuko asked incredulously. “I can’t move either!”

The slime kept rising, squeezing Zuko, Aang, and the egg up against the grate.

“It s...ed,” came Aang’s muffled voice.

“What?” Zuko asked. He was up to his ears - literally - in sticky goop and his scarred side was closer to Aang. “You’ve gotta talk way louder.”

“It stopped,” Aang repeated, louder.

“At least we have air,” said Zuko, trying to look on the bright side of the side of a terrible situation. “Maybe if we stay calm, we can figure a way out of this.”

Appa and Fang landed near the top of the grate. Fang stared at the slime-covered egg intently while Appa bellowed and licked the top of the grate Zuko and Aang were stuck beneath. Some of the slime stuck to Appa’s tongue and he happily ate it.

“Well, the good news is, this green stuff is edible and Appa got the slime off our ears,” Aang said cheerily. “Maybe if Appa keeps licking at it and we start licking it too, we can eat enough that we can wiggle free.”

“You think Appa can eat an entire room’s worth of this stuff?” Zuko asked.

“I mean, maybe?”

“He’d get a stomach ache!”

“He seems fine to me!”

“Yeah, for now. He’s gonna puke it all up later.”

Appa licked them again. Zuko was able to move just enough to thump his forehead against the grate.

* * *

Zuko’s nose itched. He tried to pull a hand free from the sticky goop to itch it, but he was still completely stuck. “Can’t you slimebend us free or something?” Zuko asked.

Aang seemed to give it a valiant effort, but the slime didn’t move at all.

“Good try, buddy,” Zuko finally said just so Aang would stop trying to pop a blood vessel while they were trapped.

Aang sighed and stopped trying to slimebend. “I really wish it _had_ worked.”

Something in Aang’s tone made Zuko narrow his good eye.

“...why?” Zuko asked slowly.

“I _really_ have to pee,” Aang said.

“Well, hold it!”

“I’m _trying_!”

* * *

“Zuko, guess what?”

“What?”

“I don’t have to pee anymore.”

“Uhg. I did _not_ need to know that, Aang.”

“No, the feeling just passed. You know how you can think about a waterfall to make yourself pee? I thought about the desert for a while and now I don’t have to pee anymore!”

Zuko thumped his head against the grate again.

* * *

“Hey, so if you’re related to Roku, does that mean we’re related too?”

“Uh,” said Zuko. “I don’t think so. I mean, you and Roku are still different people, even though he’s your past life. If that makes sense.”

“It does make sense, but I still think we’re related,” Aang said. “Mostly because I’m a really good grandpa. I pretended to be Katara and Sokka’s grandpa one time as a disguise, so I already have practice talking to young whipper-snappers like yourself.”

“Whipper-snappers?” Zuko echoed. “How did you manage to avoid the Fire Nation for so long with those kinds of disguises?”

“It’s old person luck! You’ll understand when you’re older.”

“I’m older than you,” Zuko argued. “The time you were frozen doesn’t count. You’re, like...I don’t know, an annoying little brother. Not a weird old grandpa.”

“I can be an annoying little brother _and_ a weird old grandpa. I’m _great_ at multitasking. And Kyoshi called herself your grandma and she’s, like, super smart, so that settles it. Now show some respect to your great-grandpa. I’m a hundred and twelve, you know.”

“Okay, _grandpa_ ,” Zuko said. “Let’s preserve our energy and meditate. Your old bones need the rest.”

“You’re darn right they’re old bones,” Aang said triumphantly, then sighed deeply. “But do we _have_ to meditate?”

“If we weren’t stuck, I’d make you do hot squats.”

“Meditating it is!”

* * *

“Hey, Zuko?”

“Shhh. I’m meditating.”

“But I have a really important question.”

Zuko sighed and gave up on meditating. “What?”

“What’s your favorite color?”

“Are you serious, Aang?”

“I’m just curious!”

“Fine. It’s red.”

“You can’t just choose your nation’s color, that’s cheating!”

“Uhg. Okay, brown, then.”

“Brown??”

“Appa’s brown,” Zuko said defensively.

“I guess,” Aang said like he still thought brown was a boring choice.

“Well, what’s _your_ favorite color?” Zuko deflected.

Aang sighed dreamily. “Blue. Like Katara.”

“Katara’s not blue.”

“Yeah, but she wears blue and blue is her favorite color.”

“Why does _she_ get to have the Water Tribe color as her favorite?”

“Because…” Aang floundered. “Well, you like blue, too, Mr. Blue Spirit.”

“That mask happens to be from a classic play beloved across the world,” Zuko said hotly.

“What play?”

“Love Amongst the Dragons,” said Zuko.

“I’ve never heard of it.”

“Do you want to know what happens?”

“Sure?”

By the time Zuko finished explaining the plot of Love Amongst the Dragons, it was dark outside. “So do you want to hear about Love Amongst the Badgermoles now?”

“Uh, I’m good,” said Aang. “I kinda have to pee again though.”

Zuko sighed. “I’m going back to meditating.”

* * *

“You just _had_ to pick up the egg, didn’t you?”

“Well, at least I made _something_ happen.”

“HEEEEEEEELP!”

Appa and Fang both looked down at Zuko and Aang, unimpressed.

“Who are you yelling to? Nobody’s lived here for centuries.”

“Well, what do _you_ think we should do?”

“Think about our place in the universe?”

Aang groaned.

“What’s a sky bison doing here?” someone muttered from above the grate.

“His name’s Appa!” Aang called up helpfully.

“Who’s down there?”

A Sun Warrior peered down at Zuko and Aang, frowning. Zuko and Aang gave him matching awkward grins.

* * *

After they had faced Ran and Shaw, the Sun Warrior chief walked them back to where Appa and Fang were waiting. The egg was tucked between Appa’s front legs and the bison was carefully resting his head on it. Fang looked up when they returned and stared at Zuko expectantly.

“I think Appa likes the egg,” Aang said. “He’s already keeping it safe and warm.”

“There _is_ an egg protected within the sunstone, but it’s been dormant for decades,” said the Sun Warrior chief. “The mother, who was descended from Avatar Roku’s dragon companion, was slain long ago and whatever life was in the egg is long gone now. Ran and Shaw have both turned away from it.”

“The egg is alive,” Zuko said with complete confidence.

“Fang’s spirit led us here,” explained Aang. “He watched us do the Dragon Dance and seemed really excited when Zuko picked up the egg. I think he was telling us the egg is alive.”

The Sun Warrior chief looked appraisingly at Zuko. Finally, he nodded. “If Fang, companion to Avatar Roku, wishes for you to care for the egg then that is what you must do.”

Zuko didn’t know anything about dragons, other than what he’d seen in Love Amongst the Dragons, but Fang was still looking at him expectantly, so he nodded and bowed to both Fang and the chief. Next to him, Aang did the same. Zuko said, solemnly, “We’ll do our best to take care of the egg.”

The Sun Warrior chief carefully opened the sunstone, revealing the dragon egg within. Aang ran his hands along Appa and gathered up loose fur. Zuko moved the half-eaten loaf of bread to a different bag, Aang lined the empty food pack with the tufts of fur, and Zuko carefully nestled the egg in the pack.

Zuko bowed again to the Sun Warrior chief and Fang. “Thank you for trusting us.”

Fang nodded to Aang, Appa, and Zuko, then flew into the air. Just before Fang was too far away to see, he disappeared back into the spirit world in a flash of light.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The references to what happened to Zuko right after he got banished are from the prequel “Zuko’s Story” - it’s based on the movie, but I’ve never seen the movie and it seems to mostly fit with the show canon apart from some design choices. The characterizations are totally on-point, especially for Zuko, Azula, and Iroh, and it fills in a lot of character development so I’m drawing from it for Zuko’s backstory!


	9. Chapter 9

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Zuko, Aang, and Appa make a pit-stop at a Fire Nation colony and Zuko has a crisis over noodles.
> 
> The story so far: Zuko finds Appa in an alleyway in Ba Sing Se during a tea shop supply run and takes Appa home. Zuko has his good-deed-crisis early and decides to be happy with his life in Ba Sing Se and bison-sit Appa. The Dai Li don't exist in this AU, so when Jet accused them of being firebenders, Jet and Zuko fought until they finally called a truce and went their separate ways. Jet, Smellerbee, and Longshot come across Zuko again while Zuko and Appa are putting up "found bison" flyers and Iroh hires them to work at the tea shop along with Jin. After weeks of shenanigans, Aang shows up and thinks Zuko is the best person ever since Appa loves Zuko so much. Zuko reluctantly agrees to teach Aang some firebending even though he thinks there's no chance of Aang defeating Ozai. He realizes his firebending isn't working so Zuko, Aang, and Appa head off to learn about the origin of firebending while Toph (who found out about Zuko real quick) covers for them and fills in for Zuko at the tea shop. Aang and Zuko meet Roku, who tells them Zuko is Roku's great-grandson, and Fang has the Sun Warriors give them the dragon egg.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry for the wait!!! This chapter is WAY longer than the ones before and pretty heavy in some parts - it deals with Zuko having conflicting feelings over Iroh's past role in the war/ability to look away from bad situations and the Fire Nation's extreme nationalism. I promise this is an Iroh-positive fic (I love him and he's such an amazing uncle) but he's got his own character development to go through in the background and Zuko's gotta work through some stuff for the plot to move along. Also, there's a character from the comics in this chapter, but I changed their backstory a ton so you don't need to know anything about the comics. Happy 2021 and thanks for reading!!! 💛💛💛

“So it’s pretty cool your uncle didn’t kill the last dragon.”

Zuko was sitting on Appa’s saddle, a handful of rainbow flames dancing in his cupped-together palms and the dragon egg tucked against his side. He stared into the flickering colors. 

“Uh, Zuko?” Aang craned his neck so he could look back. “Are you okay?”

_Not really_ , Zuko admitted to himself. He’d slept dreamlessly after talking to Roku, probably from some sort of spirit intervention, but he’d tossed and turned for hours during the night they’d stayed with the Sun Warriors before facing Ran and Shaw. The Sun Warriors had fed them, and given them food for their trip back to Ba Sing Se, but Zuko hadn’t been able to stop thinking about his relation to Roku through blood on his mother’s side and through choice on his father’s, before Sozin had left Roku for dead. Had his mother known she was related to Roku? Had his uncle or his father known of their grandfather’s friendship with the previous avatar?

Zuko had only gotten more anxious when the Sun Warriors had told him about his uncle facing, sparing, and lying for the last dragons. Aang had napped for a few hours in Appa’s saddle while Zuko had taken the reins, but Zuko hadn’t so much as managed a wink, so he was tired enough that he voiced his turmoil.

“I don’t understand how my uncle met the dragons decades ago, found out the true meaning of fire, and then went on to conquer so much of the Earth Kingdom. He was friends with the Rough Rhinos when they went around burning down villages. When they killed my friend’s parents. When I traveled through the Earth Kingdom, I met so many people who had suffered because of the Fire Nation and my uncle just let it happen. He was the crown prince. He could have done something. He _should_ have done something.”

Zuko’s colorful flames sputtered and went out. He didn’t try to bring them back - instead, he looked down at the ocean below them.

“And he’s changed, I _know_ he has, because he told me he knows that the Fire Nation has done so much damage to the world. And I don’t think he burned down villages, but I don’t know for sure. I mean, he was the one who pushed for the siege on Ba Sing Se - he spent years fighting for territory so the Fire Nation could have a path to the city. He had to have known what was happening under his command. But he didn’t do anything about it. And when I talked to him about how it isn’t just the Fire Lord causing problems, it’s the entire Fire Nation’s belief that we’re better than everyone else and that we deserve to control the world, he just said I was spending too much time with my friend. He said there’s no shame in choosing a simple life, in choosing a life of happiness. I love my uncle, but he’s always been willing to look away when bad things happen.”

Aang adjusted Appa’s reigns so he kept flying towards Ba Sing Se, then came to sit in the saddle across from Zuko.

“Your uncle seems so nice,” Aang said. “I mean, he said he killed the last dragon but he didn’t. Maybe he didn’t know what was going on. I bet if he knew, he would’ve done something.”

Zuko looked down at the stars and moonlight reflecting off the ocean below and kept his gaze turned away from Aang. “I...I went to a war meeting when I was about your age. Azula always tried to get me to hide behind the curtain with her and watch the meetings, but I ran away every time. After the meetings, she would tell me all these awful things we were doing in the war. I never believed her. So when she said a _good_ crown prince would go to the meetings and learn how to rule the nation, I told her I wasn’t scared to go. My uncle let me in. It was just like Azula had said. This old general wanted to sacrifice an entire division of new recruits. He...he called them fresh meat and no one said anything against the plan.” Zuko hesitated, glanced back at Aang’s wide eyes and then back out at the ocean, and added, “Not even my uncle.”

“They wanted to sacrifice their own people?”

Zuko nodded. He swallowed a lump in his throat. “I had to say something. I _had_ to. So I did. But I’m bad at saying things in a way that makes people listen, no one _ever_ listens until I yell, and I tried to say why the plan was bad, but I’m not...I didn’t do a good enough job. No one listened. But my father said I had been disrespectful and said I had to fight an Agni Kai - a fire duel.”

“Your dad wanted a _kid_ to fight against a full-grown general? He probably had so much more training and experience. How is that fair?”

“I could’ve taken him. Probably.” Zuko paused, then admitted, “Probably not, but I was going to try so I could stop the plan to sacrifice our own soldiers. I thought, if I won the duel, I could still prove it was a bad plan. If no one else was going to say something, then I had to stand up for our people.”

Zuko called a flickering blue flame to his hand and stared at it. It wasn’t the same color of blue as Azula’s fire was - his was closer to purple than Azula’s electric blue and the flame was warm like the sun on Ember Island, not burning icy hot - but it still reminded him of the first time she’d managed the blue flames. She’d woken Zuko up in the middle of the night to practice for months, determined to learn the blue flames but unwilling to let anyone but Zuko see her working on them before they were perfect. Zuko had never managed even a hint of blue, but the first time Azula had created blue fire they had both stared at the flickering flame in her hand for ages. Afterward, they snuck into the kitchen to snag mochi and then went out to sit by the turtle duck pond. Azula had even broken up the mochi into small pieces before she threw it to the turtle ducks.

Zuko took a deep breath and continued, “Azula just laughed when I told her what happened in the meeting. She trained with me for a few hours, but she said if I couldn’t beat an eleven-year-old, there was no way I was going to beat a general. She said I should just get on my knees and beg for mercy so I didn’t get myself killed.”

Zuko closed his fist around the flickering blue flame.

“I still think I could’ve taken the general. Or at least put up enough of a fight that people would listen to me, would agree that the plan was wrong. But when I turned around to face him during the Agni Kai, it wasn’t the general standing in the arena. It was my dad.”

Zuko glanced at Aang. The kid’s eyes were watery and he was biting his lip anxiously.

“And I was...I was so _scared_ ,” whispered Zuko. “I took Azula’s advice and begged for mercy. It didn’t make a difference. My scar...it wasn’t an accident. It was...my dad...he…”

Zuko reached over the side of the saddle and patted Appa. There was a mat just starting to form, so he started to untangle it with his fingers. It hadn’t been this hard to tell Jet about his scar. Zuko supposed that was because when he had told Jet, it had felt distant, like he was telling a story that had happened to someone else. Jet hadn’t known all the details at first, and Zuko hadn’t had to actually talk about it much with Jet - Jet had connected the dots on his own. Talking was so much harder. Part of Zuko wanted to stop, to just clamp his mouth shut and not say anything, but now that he had started explaining he couldn’t stop himself from stumbling on.

“My friends, Mai and Ty Lee, weren’t allowed to come to the Agni Kai, but my sister and my uncle were. I remember looking over at them, right before my dad...before he...I looked over and my sister was smirking, like she always does when someone gets in trouble. And my uncle looked away.”

“He was probably scared too,” said Aang.

Zuko shrugged. “Maybe,” Zuko said quietly. He was quiet for several moments. His uncle probably hadn’t known Zuko would be facing his own dad. And if Iroh had intervened in Zuko’s Agni Kai with the old general, Zuko would have shouted and told Uncle that just because _he_ was lazy and unwilling to stand up for the soldiers, that didn’t mean Zuko would do the same. Zuko was sure he had said something along those lines to his uncle and he had probably been rude and needlessly cruel because he had been so angry, but that didn’t make it okay to treat his uncle like that. But he had been _thirteen_. Zuko couldn’t imagine standing by without even trying to help while someone tried to fight Aang, and especially not if Aang was on his knees begging for mercy. Finally, he continued, “But he’s the only one who could have done anything. Other than maybe my mom - my dad listened to her, usually - but she disappeared over five years ago. But my uncle is older than my dad, the throne is rightfully his, and he’s the best firebender in the world. He could’ve stopped it. But he didn’t. He just...looked away.”

There was a small outcropping of rocks below, too small to be an island but big enough that the sound of waves crashing against them carried up to the sky. Zuko looked down at them. He was so tired that they looked blurry even from his good eye. Zuko squeezed his eyes shut for a second and opened them again, hoping that would clear his vision, but it just made stars dance in his view. He smoothed out the section of fur he had just unmatted, buried one hand in Appa’s fur, and tucked his other arm around the dragon egg by his side.

“And I just...is that the way he’s always been? Willing to look away while other people get hurt? And I know he feels bad. I _know_ he does. And I love my uncle, and I know he loves me and supports me in every way he can. And he knows the war is bad. He gives free tea to any Earth Kingdom veterans who come in and he pays for an apartment and food and everything for all the street kids my friend takes in. But...well, my friend and I got arrested by the city guards not long before you showed up.”

Zuko decided not to mention that Appa had been locked up with him and Jet. Somehow, Zuko didn’t think Aang would be happy about Appa getting a criminal record. All three of them had been tossed in a huge cell under a lake and Appa had hated being stuck underground all night and it had taken hours before Uncle had shown up to bail them out. He had been more upset than Zuko had ever seen him - he had yelled at Zuko and Jet right there in the cell.

“When my uncle got us out, he said if we kept stirring up trouble, we could lose all the good things that are happening for us. But that’s the thing. Good things are happening for _us_. Not for people smuggled into the city by the trafficking triads and then forced to work for them. Not for people who have lost friends and parents and siblings and children to the war. Not for people who have been hurt by the Fire Nation. Just for us. 

“And even that won’t last, since the Fire Nation will win the war and take over Ba Sing Se and Uncle and I will be executed for treason, and there’s nothing I can do about that, but I have to help everyone I can help until that happens. Even if it means stirring up trouble. I can’t just help when it’s easy. I have to help when it’s hard, too. I can’t look away. But my uncle can and has for decades and I don’t know…” Zuko’s voice cracked. He wiped at his good eye with the back of his hand. “I don’t understand...he’s known about the true meaning of fire for years and he still just…I don’t understand _how_...”

Zuko took a steadying breath and waited several seconds until he was pretty sure his voice wouldn’t crack. “Anyway, it doesn’t even matter. None of this will matter in a few years. I’ll still teach you firebending, but there’s not really a point to trying that hard. The war’s already lost. My uncle is probably the only person in the world who could take on my father and actually win. But he’s never spoken out against the Fire Nation and I don’t think he’d ever actually commit treason unless it’s something really, really horrible, like when Zhao tried to kill the moon spirit, and you’re not going to become a master firebender that fast, especially with only me to teach you.”

Zuko finally looked at Aang for longer than a half-glance. Aang was hugging his knees to his chest and staring at Zuko and Zuko clamped his mouth shut. He hadn’t meant to dump all that on the kid - Zuko was so tired he could barely keep his eyes open and he didn’t have good impulse control even when he had gotten more than two hours of sleep.

“Sorry,” Zuko said. He reached across the saddle and awkwardly patted Aang’s shoulder - or at least, he tried. He was seeing double and it took him a few tries and he ended up patting the top of Aang’s head instead. “I, uh. I didn’t mean to dump all that on you, buddy. Sorry.”

“Don’t be sorry,” Aang said, his voice shaking but his expression determined. “That’s what friends are for. And grandpas. And I _am_ going to end the war. I will. I abandoned the world a hundred years ago. I failed the world a hundred years ago. It’s my fault that so many people have gotten hurt. I’m not going to fail again.”

Zuko frowned at Aang, a sort of twelfth wind of the day taking over at Aang’s words and overtaking his exhaustion, at least for a few minutes. “The war isn’t your fault. It’s Sozin’s fault. And Grandfather’s. And Father’s. And all the people who keep the war going. You’re, like, twelve. No one expected you to stop the war a hundred years ago and no one expects you to do it now. You’re still a kid. It’s just bad timing, but that’s just the way it goes when the Avatar is growing up. The world has to solve its own problems for a while - or not solve them. But that’s on everyone else, not on you.”

“It _is_ on me and people _are_ expecting me to end the war,” Aang insisted. “And I’m going to. You’ll see. It’s going to work out, Zuko.”

Zuko shook his head. “You’re just a child. You can’t beat my father, let alone the entire Fire Nation. But thanks for trying.” Zuko tried to smile at Aang. He wasn’t sure he managed it, but he still said, warmly, “You’re a good grandpa.”

Aang still looked upset, but he lit up at that. “Well, my young grandson, I think it’s high time you took a snoozle-doozle.”

“A _snoozle-doozle_?”

“You young people and your boring vocabulary,” Aang said in a pretend old man voice. He grabbed a handful of loose Appa fur, stuck it to his chin as a fake beard, stroked his Appa fur beard, then spat out fur that he’d accidentally pushed into his mouth. Once Aang had finished scraping off his tongue while Zuko watched on, wondering when his life had gotten so crazy, he got back into character and said, “I can’t believe you don’t even know about snoozle-doozles.”

“There’s no way that was _ever_ a word. What does it even _mean_?”

Aang stood, grinning, and tossed a blanket over Zuko and the egg. “It means get some sleep, grandson-of-mine.”

* * *

Zuko woke to the sound of Appa’s stomach rumbling. It was still dark, and the moon had moved in the sky, but they were over land instead of water. Zuko looked over the side of the saddle at the colonies below.

“I think Appa has a stomachache,” Aang called over his shoulder. Appa groaned his agreement. Aang leaned down to look at Appa, tilting so far off the side of Appa that Zuko worried he was going to fall off. “It’s probably from licking all that sticky stuff off of us yesterday when we were glued to the grate.”

Zuko pushed down a childish urge to say _I told you so,_ , because when Appa had come to check on them while they were stuck under the grate and had started licking the green sticky stuff, Zuko had told Aang he’d probably feel awful later. Then - because he was still pretty tired and felt like he should have tried harder to get Appa to stop eating the gunk - Zuko said, “I told you so.”

Aang looked so upset that Zuko felt bad right away.

“But maybe he’s just hungry,” Zuko quickly said. He pulled a handful of feed out of a bag and brought it to Aang.

Aang leaned down to offer the feed to Appa. Appa groaned and refused to take it.

“We should stop for a bit,” Aang said.

Zuko frowned. Aang was right - Appa couldn’t keep flying like this. But, “We’re still in the colonies. I doubt they’ll be happy about the Avatar and the traitor prince just dropping by.”

Aang leaned over the side of Appa again. He scanned the ground below. “I see a town with a forest right next to it! We can hide Appa in the forest and sneak in to get some medicine for him.”

Appa groaned again. Zuko patted him sympathetically. “I guess we don’t have a choice.”

* * *

Conveniently, there was a huge cave for Appa to hide in not too far from town. The moon was high in the sky by the time they got Appa settled, and the shops were all closed, so Zuko snuck into town to get some herbs to make Appa feel better. He didn’t have any Fire Nation money, but he left a handful of Earth Kingdom silver coins and hoped it was okay since the colony wasn’t too far from the Earth Kingdom.

He was halfway back to the cave when he ran into Aang.

“I found disguises for us!” Aang whispered. He held up matching outfits. He already had a belt tied around his head, the yellow pattern on the red belt lined up so it matched his arrow tattoo. “So we can go into town in the morning!”

“We’re not going into town in the morning.”

* * *

They went into town in the morning. Appa was feeling way better and Aang had asked so many times the night before that Zuko had agreed just so he could go to sleep. They had tucked the dragon egg under Appa’s chin and the bison was happily keeping it safe and warm. Several people threw suspicious glances their way as they walked by. Zuko kept his head down. Most people noticed his scar before they noticed anything else about him. Was he too recognizable? He never should have listened to Aang; this had been a terrible idea.

“Aang,” Zuko hissed. “We shouldn’t be doing this.”

“Don’t worry, Zuko,” Aang said confidently. He adjusted the makeshift head covering they had made out of a belt and a sleeve of Zuko’s shirt. “I used to visit my friend Kuzon in the Fire Nation all the time. I can totally blend in. Watch this.”

Aang sauntered into a restaurant and right up to the woman sitting behind the counter. A pair of crutches was leaned up against the counter, in easy reach.

“Greetings, my good hotman,” said Aang. “Could we get two hotcakes and two sides of eggs?”

“We don’t have any Fire Nation money,” Zuko added. “But we can pay double if you’ll take Earth Kingdom coins.”

“It’s on the house,” the woman beamed. “We love former Earth Kingdomers joining our colony. Isn’t the Fire Nation so much nicer than the dirty towns you must be used to?”

“The Earth Kingdom isn’t _dirty_ ,” Aang protested.

Zuko set a hand on Aang’s shoulder. “Sorry about my, uh. My-”

“Great-grandpa,” said Aang.

“My little brother,” Zuko finished. He threw an incredulous glare at Aang - how had the kid wandered around for months without getting caught more often? “He’s still getting used to...everything.”

“Don’t you worry,” said the woman. “So many dirt people don’t know what’s good for them. We fight so kids like you can grow up civilized.”

Zuko and Aang exchanged grimaces. The woman didn’t notice. Aang started to say something to the woman, but Zuko slammed a hand over his mouth before he could get a sound out.

The woman continued, “I’ve heard the Earth Kingdom even captures Fire Nation soldiers, dresses them up in Earth Kingdom uniforms, and puts them on the front lines, unarmed.”

That was exactly what the Earth Kingdom soldiers in Lee’s town had said the Fire Nation did to Earth Kingdom soldiers. Zuko wondered if that had actually happened somewhere in the war or if it was a propagandized rumor that had spread across both nations.

“But enough about the war. I’m impressed - you’re already working on your topknot!”

A piece of hair escaped from Zuko’s topknot and fell across his forehead. Earlier that morning, he had started to make a phoenix plume, but quickly realized his hair was too short and he would be even more recognizable than he already was if he kept the hairstyle from his wanted posters. Instead, he had attempted to make a topknot. His hair wasn’t quite long enough for that either and it had been falling out all morning.

“It’ll be long enough for a proper topknot soon enough,” the woman assured him. “I’ll get you some pins while your hotcakes are cooking. You and your brother look so handsome in your uniforms!”

“Uniforms?” Aang whispered to Zuko. Zuko shrugged.

A troop of Fire Nation soldiers marched past. Zuko risked a glance over his shoulder - there were at least a dozen and every single one was wearing their skull faceplate. Zuko had always thought his father was a fool for thinking the rest of the world would follow him willingly, but he wondered if changing the helmet design would make the people they conquered realize the Fire Nation wanted to help, not just to bring death and destruction. Then Zuko thought of Song’s burns and Lee’s brother and Jet’s village and all the refugees in Ba Sing Se and decided the skull faceplates were an accurate representation of what the Fire Nation was doing to the world.

The woman reappeared with their food and a handful of pins for Zuko’s hair. She saw Zuko and Aang looking out the window at the soldiers and frowned.

“We used to never have on-duty soldiers marching around, just guards and trainees from the Military Earthbending Academy. We’ve been a colony for seventy years and have never caused any trouble. But they’ve started enforcing the bender draft and they sent soldiers to track down dodgers and deserters. But if you’re not hiding anything and you stay out of trouble, you won’t have anything to worry about.”

The woman picked up a rock and earthbended it into the shape of the Fire Nation symbol. She held it out to Aang.

“You’re Earth Kingdom,” Aang yelped.

The woman crinkled her nose in disgust. “I’m Fire Nation, born and raised. I served my country for nearly three decades before I lost my leg at the Siege of Ba Sing Se. I still teach at the Earthbending Academy two days a week.”

“But I’ve seen the earthbender prisons,” Aang said before Zuko could stop him. “The Fire Nation arrested anyone they saw earthbending.”

“Well, of course,” said the woman. “Earthbending is much too dangerous to let untrained benders just walk around. We Fire Nation earthbenders have a duty to serve our country. If they went to prison, it’s because the territory was too new and they proved they couldn't be trusted or they refused the draft.”

“But earthbending isn’t that dangerous,” argued Aang. “You shouldn’t have to join the military just to live your life-”

“ _Everyone_ has a duty to our nation. The Fire Lord is the manifestation of Agni’s will and he commanded all benders to join the army. Earthbenders, firebenders - it doesn’t matter. Anyone who is blessed by the spirits and yet refuses to fight for their nation deserves prison or worse.”

Something twisted in Zuko’s gut at the woman’s words about the Fire Lord manifesting Agni’s will. Zuko had believed that for most of his life, especially when he had found the Avatar after only three years of searching and thought Agni must have wanted him to succeed in his quest. But that was before he’d traveled around the Earth Kingdom and moved to Ba Sing Se and spent all his time with people who had been born without a drop of royal blood. Zuko wasn’t better than Jet or Jin or Toph or Longshot or Smellerbee just because he was born to a royal family. Royal blood, noble blood, common blood: it was all the same blood. Even Aang, who had been born the Avatar, wasn’t any wiser than any other twelve-year-old when he wasn’t in the Avatar State. He was just a kid who’d had the weight of the world shoved on his shoulders.

“Hey!” someone shouted from behind Zuko and Aang. For a moment, Zuko was relieved the quickly-derailing conversation had been interrupted - but then he looked and saw a pair of guards standing behind them.

“We caught you,” frowned one of the guards, crossing her arms. “It couldn’t be more obvious you don’t belong here.”

For a split-second, Zuko debated grabbing Aang and telling the guards he had captured the Avatar - but how could he do that to the kid? Aang would be disappointed in him, Appa would be disappointed in him, and Zuko would be disappointed in himself.

Instead, Zuko stared defiantly at the guard in front of him. If he was going to go down, he would go down standing up for what was right. Fighting against the entire Fire Nation to end the war was hopeless, but protecting Aang, protecting Appa, protecting the egg - that he could do. He’d be arrested and taken back to his father and executed for committing treason twice over, probably, but it was worth it, because Aang and Appa and the egg would get away. Zuko subtly adjusted his stance so he could reach the dual dao strapped to his back, hidden under his tunic. He opened his mouth to tell Aang to run and take Appa and the egg back to Ba Sing Se, to tell Uncle he was sorry-

“Next time you two decide to play hooky, take off your school uniforms,” advised one of the guards.

School uniforms? Zuko looked down at his and Aang’s matching outfits and kicked himself. How had he not realized?

“Have fun in class!” the hotcake woman called after them. “You’ll learn how great the Fire Nation is soon enough!”

They ate their hotcakes and eggs as the guards escorted them to the school in the middle of town. Zuko told them their cover story about how they had just moved to the colony and this was their first day.

“You two are going to love the civilized world,” one of the guards said sincerely.

The guards bought them mochi on the way over and, when they reached the school, they clapped Zuko and Aang on the backs and wished them a good first day.

“They’re so nice,” Aang whispered after the guards walked away. “How can they be so awful about the other nations but also so nice?”

* * *

“Is that a trick question? The Air Nomads didn’t have a formal military.”

Zuko wanted to grab Aang and drag him out of the school. They should’ve snuck out as soon as the guards left, but Aang had been so excited about experiencing a Fire Nation school that Zuko had finally agreed that they could stay for one day. He’d known it wouldn’t end well and had agreed anyway and now the kid was defending his people against the Fire Nation propaganda in a gated-in campus in a room full of Fire Nation loyalists. Zuko really needed to stop giving in to the kid’s koala-puppy-dog eyes.

The teacher frowned at Aang. “Well, I don’t know how you could possibly know more than our national history book.”

“The Air Nomads are… _were_ peaceful. They believed all life was sacred and only used violence for necessary defense. They were even vegetarians.”

“Young man, I’m going to have to talk to your parents-” the teacher began.

Zuko jumped to his feet. “I’m sorry about my brother,” he said quickly. “We just moved here from the Earth Kingdom and we’re still getting used to things here. Uh, it’s just the two of us though. Our parents...didn’t make it, but they sent us here to, uh, give us better lives and become, more, uh...civilized?” Zuko winced at the word.

Somehow, the rambling excuse worked on the teacher.

“This must be such a culture shock for you,” she said, either kindly or condescendingly. Zuko couldn’t tell which. “What do you think of the Fire Nation so far?”

“Uh, love it,” said Zuko.

“It’s very...fiery,” added Aang.

“Why don’t the two of you go help out with the younger kids for the rest of the day? They’re doing crafts. Immersing oneself in a new culture is best done through art.”

The classroom they were sent to was full of four-year-olds and five-year-olds.

“Hi!” Aang beamed at the kids. “I’m Kuzon and this is my brother Lee! We just moved here from the Earth Kingdom and our teacher told us to come help you guys with your crafts!”

Zuko waved awkwardly.

“Where did you move from?” the teacher asked.

“Yes, we moved!” Zuko blurted out. Belatedly, he realized it hadn’t been a yes or no question. “From, uh...Boulder...City?”

Dozens of eyes blinked up at Zuko. A little girl sitting in the back of the room giggled, which set off all the other kids. Zuko threw a panicked look at Aang - what was he supposed to do with a bunch of kids laughing uncontrollably?

Aang drew the kids’ attention by calling out, “Hey, watch this!”

Aang created several marble-sized balls of flame in each color of the rainbow, put his hands a few inches apart, and spun the flames around in a small circle between his palms so fast that the colors blurred together. All the kids gasped and crowded around Aang to see the trick. Even the teacher looked impressed. Zuko really hoped none of them figured out Aang was using a firebending version of an airbending trick.

Eventually, the teacher made all the kids return to their seats and sent Zuko and Aang to sit in the back.

“Okay, students. Let’s recite the Fire Nation oath.”

The students all clambered out of their seats again and turned to face the back of the classroom. Zuko and Aang stared back at them.

“Pssst.” The girl who had started off the giggling at Zuko’s Boulder City comment tugged on his tunic. The top half of her short hair was tied up in a topknot with a pink ribbon. “You gotta stand up, turn around, and do what I do.”

Zuko and Aang stood up and faced the back of the room. A massive portrait of Zuko’s father stared down. Zuko flinched.

“Woah. That’s your dad?” Aang whispered to Zuko.

Zuko’s heart skipped a beat and he shushed him. The only person in earshot was the small girl. She seemed more preoccupied with folding Zuko’s hands into the sign of the flame than listening to Aang blow their cover.

“That’s perfect!” The girl smiled brightly at Zuko. She gave an approving nod to Aang’s hands and then stood beside Zuko and bowed to the portrait of Zuko’s father. Zuko bowed as well and tried to tamp down the queasy feeling in his stomach. He wished Appa was there with him - logically, the bison probably wasn’t allowed in class and they didn’t have enough fabric to disguise Appa’s arrow marking, but that didn’t stop him from wanting him there.

The small girl bumped her shoulder against Zuko and smiled encouragingly at him and somehow, Zuko felt a bit better.

The kids began to recite the Fire Nation oath. Zuko had learned it as a kid, but now the words tasted like ash in his mouth. “My life I give to my country, with my hands I fight for Fire Lord Ozai and our forefathers before him.”

“Forefathers, blah, blah, bla-” Aang mumbled along.

The little girl beside them started snickering. Zuko didn’t think anyone else had heard Aang, but the girl’s giggles were making the other kids start laughing too. Zuko elbowed Aang in the side so hard the younger boy wheezed.

The class continued, “With my mind I seek ways to better my country, and with my feet may our March of Civilization continue.”

“What is it with the Fire Nation and civilization?” Aang asked Zuko quietly while the kids went to the front of the room to get craft supplies.

“It’s because...you know.”

Aang cocked his head. He obviously didn’t know.

Shame bubbled up in Zuko’s gut. He no longer believed all the things he’d learned about the other nations while he was growing up - he’d met people from every nation and seen their homes and he knew different didn’t mean uncivilized or wrong - but for so long, Zuko had taken the Fire Nation’s teachings to heart. Even if Aang did manage to defeat the Fire Lord, how could a twelve-year-old convince the rest of the Fire Nation to stop the war when they grew up with so much propaganda?

“Uh, people in the Fire Nation think...I mean, our books say...well, we’re taught that the Fire Nation is civilized and every other nation is, uh, barbaric and we have a moral obligation to bring the other nations under Fire Nation control so they can be civilized too.”

“ _Barbaric_?” Aang gaped at Zuko. “Why?”

Zuko really didn’t want to recite Fire Nation propaganda to Aang - he especially didn’t want to when they were both stuck in a class full of little kids for the foreseeable future. “Look, I don’t really think you need to hear all the details right now. The Fire Nation teaches us we’re the greatest civilization in history and the war is our way of sharing our greatness. But the rest of the world doesn’t think we’re great. They’re terrified of us and we deserve it. We’ve created an era of fear in the world and now the world is destroying itself and there’s nothing we can do but wait.”

“No,” said Aang. “This isn’t over yet. It _can’t_ be over yet. You think there’s no way to stop the war, that there’s no more hope, but there is hope. As long as we keep fighting for what’s right, there will always be hope.”

Zuko glanced up at the huge portrait of his father and then looked down at his feet. “You don’t know the Fire Nation like I do.” 

The girl with the pink ribbon around her top-knot appeared in front of Zuko and Aang. She held up a crumpled up picture of Zuko’s father, a piece of cardboard, and a baggie full of noodles.

“I’m Kiyi! Will you help me with my craft?” she asked brightly.

“Sure!” Aang grinned at her. “I love crafts!”

Kiyi sat down at the table with Zuko and Aang. She tossed the picture and the cardboard on the table and then turned her baggie upside down so all the noodles spilled out.

“I already drew an outline!” Kiyi told them. “And I brought my doll Kiyi to help!” 

Kiyi showed Zuko and Aang a doll with an unfortunate haircut.

“I thought _your_ name was Kiyi?” Zuko said, confused.

“It’s such a good name, I used it twice,” Kiyi told them seriously. 

Aang agreed, “It _is_ a good name.”

“I gave her a haircut last week. I wanted to make her prettier, but it didn’t turn out too good.”

“My sister did stuff like that when she was little.”

Aang shot Zuko a skeptical look.

Zuko decided not to mention that Azula’s experiments with dolls became headcuts instead of haircuts once she started sneaking into war meetings and watching from behind the curtain. She would come into his room every time and tell Zuko about the gruesome tactics the generals suggested after Zuko had run away. Zuko still remembered Azula telling Zuko about all the execution methods the generals had suggested for if they ever found Jeong Jeong the Deserter and those who had left to join him. She had lined up all her dolls and several of Zuko’s stuffed animals and demonstrated each execution while Zuko had peeked out from under his covers, desperately trying to convince himself that Azula was lying. Zuko tried really hard to not think about his possible upcoming personal experience with those methods, once the Fire Nation won the war and he and Uncle were executed for treason.

Kiyi directed Aang to work on the border of the noodle portrait and told Zuko to work on the face. Zuko picked up noodles and set them over the pencil lines Kiyi had drawn. While they worked, Kiyi told them all about the other noodle portraits she’d made. Zuko listened raptly, trying to ground himself. It was surreal to be back in a Fire Nation town for the first time in three years, just to get roped into going to school and making noodle portraits of his father.

“We need glue so we can stick down all the noodles,” Aang decided when they were done with the noodle layout. “I’ll go get some!”

Aang jumped up from the table and headed towards the supplies table. Zuko picked up a noodle and twirled it between his fingers.

“So you’re new to the colony?” Kiyi asked Zuko.

“Uh - yeah,” he said. “Before I came here, I lived in the Earth Kingdom. And before the Earth Kingdom, I lived on a boat for three years.”

“Woah,” said Kiyi, her eyes wide and curious. “I’ve never ever been on a boat, except for before I was born. My mom came here while she was pregnant with me and we’ve never left. Not even last year when the whole school went on a field trip to the capital. My mom told my teacher I was sick and so I couldn’t go even though I wasn’t sick.”

“That’s rough, buddy,” Zuko told Kiyi. “Caldera City is super cool. But Ember Island is even cooler - my family has a house there and we used to go to the beach and build sandcastles. Maybe you and your mom can go sometime. But, uh. Do you do anything fun here?”

“I like feeding turtle ducks and dolls and reading. Oh! And I’m playing a tree in our school’s play in a few weeks! Will you come see me in the show?”

“Um, I’ll try,” said Zuko. “I really like plays. And turtle ducks.”

Kiyi gasped. “That means we’re best friends now! Will you take me to see the turtle ducks after school? Please please please? I’m not allowed to go to the water by myself but my mom is at rehearsal until really late and after-school care is boring and I really really want to go see them.”

Zuko thought he should probably say no - Appa was probably feeling better and they should get going before Toph ran out of excuses for them. But Kiyi turned koala-puppy-dog eyes on Zuko that were just as hard to resist as Aang’s and he found himself agreeing before he could help himself.

* * *

“You’re not listed as an authorized pickup adult,” frowned the after-school caretaker.

“It’s okay, he’s my brother!” Kiyi piped up, lying so smoothly and with such a straight face that Zuko was reminded of Azula. “He’s in the army and he’s only back for a few days before he needs to leave again!” 

The man squinted at Zuko. He knew he was looking at his scar.

“Training accident,” Zuko said quickly.

“Hmm. Which division are you in?”

“Uh.” Zuko panicked. “The 41st?”

“They’re still building back up the numbers? Such a shame what happened to all those kids. No wonder it’s taking so long to recruit for that division - I heard there weren’t any survivors after that Earth Kingdom attack. But the older division got revenge for them and wiped out an entire battalion of elite Earth Kingdom earthbenders.”

Zuko’s mouth was dry.

The man gave him a wry smile. “Didn’t mean to scare you off, kid. Good on you for helping our nation. We’ll win the war within the year and you’ll be a hero of the Fire Nation. Now you go have fun with your sister.”

Kiyi grabbed Zuko’s hand and dragged him out of the school. She spent the entire walk telling Zuko about rehearsals. Zuko was glad for the distraction from what the man had said. Did the Fire Nation really think the war would be over in a year? Was that all the longer his peaceful life with his uncle in Ba Sing Se would last?

“My friend and I played a komodo rhino in last year’s play, but she left before we got to perform it. I wanted my mom to be the other half of the komodo rhino but she’s way taller than me and she’s always the director for the plays so she couldn’t. I had to go out as half a komodo rhino,” Kiyi told Zuko as they went past a scorched foundation of what used to be a house.

“I bet you still did a good job.”

“I did,” Kiyi said, in the sort of confident-but-pleased-at-the-praise way Azula always did. “My mom said my dad really likes plays too. And she said my big brother and big sister used to put on plays for my mom and my dad and my uncle and my cousin. But my cousin died before I was born and I’ve never met anybody else in my family. My mom says they’re all really important in the Fire Nation and super busy with the war.”

_Yet another family torn apart by the war_ , Zuko thought to himself. To Kiyi, he said, “I bet they really wish they could see you.”

Kiyi shrugged. They passed another burned-down house and picked their way through the rubble. Zuko spotted the scorched corner of a paper half-buried under ash and months of weather. Zuko carefully pulled the paper from the debris and brushed the soot off. It was a family portrait. The little girl dressed in green and red in the middle was younger than when Zuko had met her, but he still recognized her - it was the kid he’d met at the zoo. She’d said her house had burned down and she and her mom had fled to Ba Sing Se before her mom was conscripted. This must have been where they had lived, before. Carefully, Zuko tucked the portrait into his pocket.

“My friend’s dad was in the army too,” Kiyi continued. They reached the turtle duck pond behind the ruins of the house and the turtle ducks quacked happily when they saw Kiyi. Kiyi handed Zuko a handful of seeds from her pocket to toss to the turtle ducks. “Every time he came home, I would feed the turtle ducks behind their house with them. But then the scary soldiers came to town to make all the benders join the army and my friend’s mom said it wasn’t fair that she had to join the army because my friend’s dad was already in the army and then their house burned down. The school said my friend and her mom died in the fire, but they didn’t, because they hid at my house for a few days before they left for Ba Si-”

Kiyi slapped a hand over her mouth. She looked so scared that Zuko immediately knelt down so he was at her height, not caring about the muddy ground at the side of the turtle duck pond.

“I promise I won’t tell anybody. I think I met your friend when I lived in the Earth Kingdom. She was doing fine, her mom was fine, too. I’m not going to tell anyone, okay?”

Kiyi still looked close to tears.

“Here, I’ll tell you a secret too and then we’ll both keep each other’s secrets. How does that sound?”

Kiyi hesitated, but eventually nodded, slowly.

Zuko glanced around - only the turtle ducks were close enough to hear. “My name isn’t Lee. It’s Zuko.”

Kiyi gasped. “Like Zuko the prince?”

Zuko nodded. “You can’t tell anybody, okay?”

Kiyi nodded solemnly. “You’re not scary. My mom says you’re not scary, you’re nice, but the wanted posters make you look kinda angry and scary.”

“I used to be angry and scary all the time,” Zuko told her. “I’m trying to be better. My friend Appa helped me.”

“Who’s Appa?”

* * *

Kiyi ran up to Appa as soon as she saw him. She held out a hand so Appa could sniff her and the bison snuffled at her, searching for food. Zuko tossed Kiyi an apple he’d pulled off a tree near the cave and she let Appa gently take it from her hand. Appa grumbled happily and licked Kiyi, careful not to jostle the egg tucked between his front paws.

“I love you too, Appa,” Kiyi giggled and hugged Appa.

“Zuko, look at this!” Aang called from the other side of the cave, apparently not phased by Kiyi’s presence.

Aang had found some sticky plants and had plastered their noodle portrait against the cave wall.

“Do you think it looks like your...you-know-who?” Aang asked. “I added a few more noodles after school!”

Ozai’s eyebrows were comically large and Aang had put so many extra noodles on his goatee that it had expanded into a beard to rival Iroh’s. Zuko smiled wryly. “He’s never looked better.”

“Do you guys want to come over for dinner?” Kiyi called from beside Appa. “Appa can come too! And we can make noodles!”

“Appa’s a secret, just like my name,” Zuko reminded Kiyi. He walked back over to the girl and the bison and scratched under Appa’s chin. Appa tilted his head up so Zuko could get the bison’s favorite angle. “He’s an endangered species so we don’t want anyone to know about him in case they try to take him away.”

Kiyi nodded solemnly. She leaned in close to Appa, hugged him tightly, and told the bison, “I love you a lot and I won’t tell anybody about you, Appa.” Kiyi shifted so she could look at Zuko and Aang. “Maybe you can get dinner at my house and bring it back for Appa and tell him it was from me?”

“I’m going to stay here with Appa, but Zuko can go!” said Aang. Zuko glared at him, but Kiyi was a sweet kid and he wasn’t actually all that upset. “Appa’s feeling better and I think he’d love some snacks! Flameo, Kiyi!”

* * *

Kiyi lived in a small house on the edge of town. The light near the door was dim, but Zuko could make out the painted house number - 41. The light flickered and for a moment, Zuko could see the painted over numbers below the 41. Maybe Kiyi’s mom just really liked that number and didn’t care if it didn’t match the rest of the street’s numbering system? Kiyi fished a key out from under a rock and let them into the dark, empty house. Zuko had just started looking around for lanterns to light when Kiyi flipped a switch and all the lights flickered on. Zuko blinked. He hadn’t even been in the Earth Kingdom for that long, and yet he had already forgotten about how much easier life was with electricity.

“I’m gonna go put on my pajamas so I don’t get my uniform all sticky,” Kiyi told Zuko. “Wait here!”

Zuko stood alone in the living space of Kiyi’s house. It was about the size of Zuko and Iroh’s apartment in Ba Sing Se. There were lights all around the room, an electric stove in the kitchen, and different handles for hot and cold water at the sink. It all looked much newer than the technology on Zuko’s ship, which probably should have been decommissioned years before.

Zuko saw a portrait of his father on the far wall - it wasn’t surprising, since everyone in the Fire Nation was required to keep up a portrait of the current Fire Lord. What _was_ surprising were the official portraits of Iroh, Lu Ten, Azula, and Zuko hanging on the wall. It was expected, but not required, to keep up photos of the extended royal family, but Lu Ten had been dead for years and Iroh and Zuko had been declared traitors to the Fire Nation.

Official portraits were made annually of every member of the royal family and sent out to all the households in Fire Nation-controlled territory. During Zuko and Iroh’s time on the ship, they had been required to stop by a Fire Nation town once a year so Iroh could get an updated portrait done.

Zuko had dreaded it every time - Zuko was banished, so no portraits were made of him, and he had been required to be confined to his quarters anytime they had entered Fire Nation waters. Somehow, Zhao had always been at port the same time as them and had come aboard to gloat at Zuko while Iroh wasn’t there to mediate. The first time, Zhao had insisted Zuko be moved to a cell on Zhao’s ship instead, so the man could “keep an eye on him.” Zuko had thrown a fit, which had just made Zhao’s smirk grow, and Zhao’s officers had dragged Zuko into a cell on Zhao’s ship. Zhao had strolled by for some reason or another every ten minutes just to taunt Zuko and watch him fume.

It had been six hours before Uncle had finished his first portrait sitting and had come looking for Zuko. Uncle had blithely told Zhao and the portrait painter they would have to reschedule the rest of the sittings, since Zuko had found a lead on the Avatar. Zuko had tried to tell Uncle he _hadn’t_ found any leads and he didn’t know what Uncle was talking about, but Uncle had shushed him. Instead of a lead, Uncle had directed them to a neutral port, given the crew leave to visit their families, and taken Zuko to a theatre festival. Zuko hadn’t wanted to waste time, had wanted to call the crew back and keep searching, but Uncle had carefully told Zuko it wasn’t fair to force his crew into banishment with him. Zuko had trailed behind Uncle for a week, alternating between staring at the theatre scrolls and masks and sets with a wide eye and staring grumpily and embarrassedly at the ground. He had been angry with himself for wasting time while the Avatar still wandered free and ashamed that part of him just wanted to forget about the Avatar for a few weeks and enjoy the festival. Zuko had ended up finding a university with a library in the next village over after the first week and had spent the rest of the crew’s break studying every book and scroll they had about past Avatars.

Zuko’s portrait was still up, even though it was outdated by several years, and his mother’s portrait was missing altogether. A small bowl for incense sticks was attached to the wall next to Lu Ten’s portrait. As Zuko got closer, he noticed a small piece of paper tucked behind his own portrait. He pulled it out. It was another sketch of Zuko, his scar bright painted red and his phoenix plume bound up. The edges of the small picture were ripped - it had obviously been torn off of a wanted poster - and it was worn, as though it had been pulled out of its hiding place over and over.

“Zuzu!” called Kiyi, emerging from her room in pink pajamas. “Help me make noodles for Appa!”

Zuko tucked the wanted poster picture back behind his portrait.

* * *

Their first attempt at dinner was a disaster. And their second. And their third.

“I think maybe we should just make some rice,” Zuko said as their latest try burned to a crisp in the pot. “We’re out of noodles.”

“My mom says it’s important to keep fighting even when it’s hard,” Kiyi told Zuko while he scrapped the scorched spicy fire noodles into a storage container, just in case that ended up being their best attempt.

Zuko paused his scrapping. His mom had said the same thing.

For a moment, Zuko felt ashamed - he was giving up on the war without much of a fight, wasn’t he? He had told Aang he would teach him, but he wasn’t exactly planning on fighting _that_ hard against the inevitable. The Fire Nation was unstoppable, so what was the point of fighting? Zuko would still help everyone he could help, and maybe, if the Fire Nation was slow to conquer Ba Sing Se, they could make sure everyone in the city lived free for at least a few months before the Fire Nation made sure they never lived free again, but helping people with Jet was something that actually worked, most of the time. It was worth the fight. Fighting the Fire Nation was a hopeless battle. Zuko shook his head and went back to scrapping.

He set the now-empty pot back on the stove and looked at the many, many containers on the counter full of failed dinner attempts. “I’d say we’ve given it enough of a fight, wouldn’t you?”

Kiyi said, stubbornly, “No.”

“ _No_?” Zuko blinked at Kiyi. Zuko tried to remember the advice Jet had given him after Zuko had taken a few of the kids to feed the turtle ducks and they had run out of seeds and Zuko had been close to tears right along with the tantrum-ing kids by the time Jet had found them. _Stay calm, tell them why they can’t get what they want, and take them seriously but don’t overreact or you’ll make them more upset_. “Kiyi, the market’s probably closed by now. We can’t get any more noodles, buddy.”

Kiyi crossed her arms. “My mom says my big brother never ever gives up without a fight.”

_Never give up without a fight._ “Never ever, huh?” Zuko echoed distantly. He felt dizzy, all of a sudden, like he was about to fall over. He braced himself against the counter with one hand and pressed his other to his forehead.

“Never ever never,” Kiyi confirmed confidently. “Even when it’s really hard, even when he’s tried over and over again, even when it feels like there’s nothing left to fight for because we’re all out of noodles. But there _is_ something left to fight for. More noodles.”

Zuko sat down right on the floor and buried his head in his hands. What was he _doing_? He was happy with his life in Ba Sing Se, with his chance to live peacefully for at least a few months or maybe even years, just working at the tea shop and spending time with Uncle and Appa and Jet and Jin and Longshot and Smellerbee, maybe auditioning for a play, helping everyone he could help. But he had given up on the idea of fighting against the Fire Nation, had decided to just enjoy the little time of peace he had before it would all come crashing down, just because it seemed so inevitable that the Fire Nation would win.

_Never give up without a fight. Even when it’s hard. Even when it feels like there’s nothing left to fight for._

But there _was_ something left to fight for, Zuko realized. He thought about Appa, and about all the kids at the zoo who climbed all over the giant bison, and about the animals at the zoo, and about the unhatched dragon that would be killed before growing up once the Fire Nation controlled the whole world. He thought about the little firebending girl in Ba Sing Se whose house had been burned down and about Lee and Sensu and Sela and Gansu, and about Song and mom and her ostrich horse, who was probably still at the Misty Palms Oasis with Uncle’s Pai Sho friends, and about all the refugees, and about Jin, who had never lived outside the city and barely understood just how bad the war was, and about Jet and Longshot and Smellerbee and all the street kids in Ba Sing Se they’d taken in, and about Aang, who was just a kid and who shouldn’t even have to fight this battle in the first place but was determined to give it all he had. How could Zuko just train Aang on the down-low for a few months and then send him off with a wave and a ‘good luck’ and beginner-level firebending training? How could Zuko just sit back and enjoy what was left of his happy, simple life when he knew Aang was heading to his death in a face-off against Ozai?

“Zuzu,” Kiyi said as she sat next to Zuko and patted his knee comfortingly. “We can get more noodles.”

Zuko took a deep breath and nodded, his mind made up. “You’re right, Kiyi. We’re going to get more noodles, and we’re going to try again and again to get this right, and we’re not going to give up, even when it’s hard, even when it feels like there’s no point to trying anymore, even if it seems impossible. It’s not about whether or not we _can_ make noodles. It’s about _trying_ to make noodles. And I’m going to make you noodles or die trying.”

“I mean,” said Kiyi. “I don’t think you have to die making noodles, Zuzu. But Mayor Nishi lives next door. We can just get some noodles from her.”

* * *

Kiyi’s neighbor had noodles and instructions on how to actually make them - apparently they needed water in the pot and Zuko needed to stop using his bending to make the pot as hot as possible. Zuko felt like he really should have thought of that sooner - why had they tried the same method over and over when it obviously wasn’t working?

“I’m so pleased to finally meet Kiyi’s brother,” Mayor Nishi said as she walked them to the door. “Your mother talks about you and your other sister all the time. You should really visit more often, young man.”

“Uh,” Zuko said awkwardly. He hoped Kiyi could find an excuse if Mayor Nishi told her mom that her brother had visited, since Zuko felt bad about pretending. “I’ll, uh, try? Thanks for the noodles, Mayor Nishi.”

* * *

Their next - and final - batch of noodles took way longer to cook than any of the others. It took ages to boil the water without firebending, so Zuko read a theater scroll on the couch while Kiyi sat on the floor and colored, her back against the couch and a well-worn piece of paper from the kitchen on the short table in front of her.

Zuko had just finished act one when Kiyi shoved her paper at him. "Zuzu, look at the drawing I made for you!"

Zuko blinked down at the paper. He wasn't sure where Kiyi's picture was - the paper had several recipes scrawled on it in handwriting that looked strangely familiar. "Lu’s favorite tea recip-"

"Flip it over," Kiyi instructed.

The other side of the paper had Kiyi's drawing. She had drawn herself with Zuko, Aang, Appa, and four other figures.

"That's my mom and my sister and my uncle and my cousin," Kiyi said, pointing to each figure. "My cousin died, but I think he'd still like to be in family pictures."

They looked a lot like Azula and Zuko's mom and Uncle and Lu Ten. Zuko tried to stop projecting and said, "I love it, Kiyi. You're really good at drawing. But what about your brother and your dad?"

Kiyi was quiet for a moment. “I think maybe my dad doesn’t like me.”

Kiyi sounded like she was about to cry. Zuko slid off the couch to sit next to her on the ground.

“I’ve never met my dad, but I think maybe bending is super important to him. But I can’t bend. I think maybe that’s why I’ve never met anyone else in my family.”

Zuko wanted to tell Kiyi that of course her dad wouldn’t care whether or not she could bend, but he hesitated. It _was_ kind of weird that Kiyi had gone her whole life without meeting anyone else in her family. And he knew from his dad that some parents expected their kids to be benders. Zuko had never been as good at bending as Azula, and when he was born the Fire Sages weren’t even sure he would be able to bend at all, and his dad had told him he was lucky to be born, because he’d almost had him cast from the palace when he wasn’t born with a spark in his eyes.

Zuko still hadn’t been able to bend at all by the time he turned eight, even though Azula had been bending for a year by then. Lu Ten had brought up his training with Master Piandao during a trip to Ember Island and Ozai had agreed that Zuko had to learn _some_ way to defend himself and sent Zuko to train with Master Piandao as well. The first time Zuko had firebended was just before his ninth birthday, in the middle of a spar with Lu Ten; the flames had snaked up his broadswords after the fifth time he’d lost a spar in a row and Lu Ten had been so distracted by being impressed that Zuko had won the next round.

Zuko had thought his dad would be proud - and he had been, for a while. He’d even trained Zuko himself for a few months, waking him up at sunrise every morning to practice with him and Azula. But just because Zuko _could_ firebend didn’t mean he was _good_ at it. It had taken him years to master the basics - he’d only moved on to advanced sets right before he had found Aang in the South Pole. His dad had realized he would never be as good as Azula pretty fast and Zuko had stopped being invited to training and his dad had never looked proud of him again.

Zuko didn’t even want to think about what his dad would have done if Zuko had gone a few more years without bending. Or if Zuko had never been able to bend at all. Zuko’s mom had told Zuko she knew he would be a bender from the first time she felt him kick. Maybe bending was just as important to Kiyi’s dad as it was to Zuko’s dad and Kiyi’s mom had known Kiyi wouldn’t be a bender and had left before Kiyi’s dad had even known she was pregnant.

“It doesn’t matter what your dad thinks,” Zuko said. He put an arm around Kiyi’s shoulder and she grabbed onto his hand tightly. “Your mom doesn’t care if you can bend. And neither do Appa and Aa-I mean, Kuzon. And neither do I. And I bet your cousin wouldn’t have cared either, and neither would your uncle or your sister. I mean, _my_ sister is one of the best firebenders in the whole world and her best friends aren’t benders and she doesn’t think any less of them. And your brother wouldn’t care either.”

" _You're_ my brother," Kiyi said like it was obvious.

Zuko really hoped Kiyi realized he wasn't actually her brother. He was surprised at the disappointment he felt at the thought - he'd only known Kiyi for a day but he already loved her. He wished she really _was_ his sister, or that she lived in Ba Sing Se so he could see her again. He could teach her how to use swords when she was older, and Uncle could teach her to play Pai Sho, and Appa would snuggle with her, and Aang would show her his marble trick over and over, and Zuko and Jet and Jin and Smellerbee and Longshot could take her to the market and find her a fun blanket and maybe a badgermole stuffed animal, and they could all go to the zoo and then see plays every week and Azula would judge the actors afterward and Kiyi would laugh and-

Zuko cut off that train of thought. Kiyi had her own family and Azula...he didn't know _what_ to think about Azula. She always knew how to set Zuko off and she lied to him all the time. Except...had she? Zuko had always told himself Azula lied, because she said such awful things and Zuko didn't want to believe they were true, but she usually was telling the truth. She had been a year younger than Aang when Zuko had been banished. Zuko wondered how much she had changed since then. The last two times they’d seen one another, Azula had been trying to capture or kill Zuko. Zuko couldn’t imagine Azula ever choosing him over their dad and he couldn’t imagine his dad ever taking him back.

The sound of the water finally boiling saved Zuko from having to think any longer. He and Kiyi added the noodles to the boiling water and Kiyi stirred while Zuko carefully copied down the recipes from the back of Kiyi’s drawing so her mom still had them when Zuko took Kiyi’s drawing home. Some of the recipes looked familiar, but he couldn’t place where he’d seen them before.

Finally, the noodles were done. Some bites were crunchier than others, and the spice hadn’t spread very evenly, so some bites were bland and others so hot they nearly burned Zuko’s mouth, but they were better than any of their other tries. They brought several plates of noodles over to Mayor Nishi and her family, who all poked at the noodles skeptically, then Kiyi found a food storage jar Zuko could use to take noodles back to Aang and Appa. Zuko helped Kiyi dish the rest of the noodles onto two plates and set the table.

“My mom is gonna be home in a few minutes,” Kiyi told Zuko. “Do you wanna stay and meet her? She’s super nice and she likes turtle ducks too!”

Zuko looked at the wall of portraits and thought about the well-worn wanted poster picture. He had been lucky to not be recognized all day, but sticking around to meet Kiyi’s mom would probably push his luck too far. He had to protect Aang and Appa and the dragon egg, and getting chased out of town would probably end badly.

“I should go,” Zuko said, reluctantly.

“Oh,” said Kiyi. She looked down at her feet. “Will I see you at school tomorrow?”

Zuko knelt down so he was eye-level with Kiyi. “I’m sorry, but no. Kuzon and Appa and I need to leave.”

Kiyi sniffled. “Will I ever see you again?”

“I really hope so, Kiyi.”

Kiyi ran to her backpack. She pulled out her doll and shoved it at Zuko. “You should take Kiyi. Then you won’t forget me and you’ll _have_ to visit so you can give her back.”

“Kiyi, I don’t want to take your doll away from you. I promise I’ll try to visit, but with the war, um…” Zuko trailed off. How could he tell a little kid that he doubted he would be around to visit her once the Fire Nation finished conquering the world?

Kiyi’s eyes were sad but determined. “And if you don’t make it through the war, I still want you to take her. Then you’ll always remember you have a friend even when things are scary.” 

Zuko was suddenly, uncomfortably reminded that no one stayed innocent and naive in a war - not even kids living in the colonies. He took the doll. “Thank you, Kiyi. I’ll take really good care of her.”

Kiyi threw her arms around Zuko and buried her face in his shoulder. Zuko hugged her back tightly. Kiyi didn’t let go for a long time. Finally, they heard footsteps approaching the front door. Zuko picked up the doll and the food for Aang and Appa, whispered goodbye to Kiyi, and slipped out the window before the door opened.

“Hi, Mom! I made dinner all by myself!” he heard Kiyi say. Kiyi’s mom responded, but by then, Zuko was too far away to make out her voice. 

* * *

Aang was nearly done packing up their sleeping packs when Zuko got back to the cave. Zuko set unspiced noodles in front of Appa, carefully took the dragon egg over to the embers of the fire while Appa ate, and flared the fire back to life. Zuko helped Aang roll up the last blanket and secure it on Appa’s saddle, then they sat down to eat.

“I know I’ve been kind of hopeless about ending the war,” Zuko said halfway through their meal.

“I wouldn’t say _kind of_ hopeless,” Aang said cheerily. “More like superfluously hopeless. Or inordinately hopeless. Or prodigiously hopeless. Or supererogatory-ly hopeless. Or-”

“Don’t patronize me,” Zuko cut Aang off before he could come up with even more words Zuko didn’t know and wasn’t sure whether Aang was just making up. He took a breath, then pushed on. “I still don’t think...I don’t know if we can end the war. It’s complicated and messy and it’s been going on for over a century and my dad is really scary and a great fighter and I’m not even sure if Avatar Kyoshi could win against him.”

Aang made a face. “Thanks for the confidence.”

“So I don’t know if we can end it,” repeated Zuko, “but if we’re going down, we’re going down fighting and we’re going down together. I’m going to do everything I can to help end this war.”

Aang set down his food, stood, and bowed at Zuko with his closed fists pushed together so his arrows pointed at one another. It took Zuko a moment to recognize the bow - he had only ever seen the Air Nomad bow in statues and paintings and books at the Air Temples. He stood and bowed back to Aang, copying his hands to return the Air Nomad bow. When they both lifted their heads from their bows, Zuko saw Aang’s eyes welling up with tears and was surprised to find his good eye was doing the same. Aang took a step forward and then wrapped his arms around Zuko, hugging him tightly. After a moment of hesitation, Zuko returned the hug, just as tightly. Appa trundled over to the pair and joined the hug.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry again for this chapter taking such a long time!! I’m still not totally confident in it, but I’ve been messing with it for weeks and finally decided to just go ahead and post it. I realized Zuko had become way too willing to just accept his fate and the fate of the world without a fight. He’s happy with his life in the city and Iroh told him a simple, happy life was a good thing and Zuko full-on committed to that mindset since he never does anything by halves. But he needed to go back to his core value of never giving up without a fight, so we got Kiyi and a crisis over noodles!
> 
> Also, I did a gift exchange for the winter solstice and to_escape_reality gifted me an AMAZING drawing of the Gaang cooking together! I love it so much and there are so many fun details! If you want to check it out, here’s the link: [Cooking with the Gaang](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28062705)
> 
> Also also, if you like Gaang-as-family fics, I wrote a story for the winter solstice event too! It's called _for the dancing and the dreaming_ and it's about Sokka and Suki trying to propose to one another while everyone is visiting the Southern Water Tribe for the winter solstice. It's got baby Druk! Here's the link for that: [for the dancing and the dreaming](https://archiveofourown.org/works/28084041)
> 
> And thank you so so so much to everyone who’s commented!! I’ve read every comment so many times and I really appreciate hearing from you - you’re all so sweet and nice and you make writing so much fun!!! 💛💛💛


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